A new Chinese standard for testing of quality control in medical proton/heavy ion beam radiotherapy equipment

With the development of social economy and radiotherapy technique, proton/heavy ion radiotherapy has been applied widely to clinical practices. At present, there are at least 29 hospitals in China at various stages of planning, construction, commissioning or clinical operation of medical proton/heavy ion beam radiotherapy equipment. Compared with common radiotherapy accelerators used in conventional external beam radiotherapy, the proton/heavy ion therapy system has more stringent requirements for quality control so as to achieve an optimum therapeutic effect. In order to protect the health rights of patients undergoing radiotherapy, to facilitate the relevant administrative supervision departments to carry out standard-based approval and routine supervision and to promote the development of related medical undertakings, the standard for testing of quality control for medical proton/heavy ion beam radiotherapy equipment is drafted to fill the gap in this regard in China and even worldwide. The standard contains five indicators and corresponding testing methods for radiological protection and safety and 16 indicators for quality control of equipment performance. The standard is a mandatory standard and is based on the relevant Chinese legal requirements for the testing of radiotherapy equipment, so all the indicators listed in the standard shall be tested. During the drafting of the standard, the opinions from hospitals that are currently using proton/heavy ion medical accelerators for radiotherapy purpose and from the related equipment manufacturers were taken into account. The draft standard was revised with reference to these opinions and the feasibility of the related quality control requirements. The official version of the standard was released on March 7, 2023, and implementation is scheduled to begin on March 1, 2024.