Dosimetry audits in practice:
The second ESTRO School Dosimetry Audit at VSL
News
Last week, we hosted the ESTRO School’s 2nd Dosimetry Audit Course here in Delft. Throughout the course, one theme kept coming back: dosimetry audits are not just a technical exercise, they important for safer, more effective radiotherapy. Every choice, from audit design and measurement methods to reporting, plays its role in treatments and care.
Over several days, the faculty and participants worked through the full package of dosimetry audits, from reference dosimetry to end‑to‑end tests. The programme covered how to select appropriate methods, measurement instruments, software, and audit phantoms, but what made it stand out was the balance between theory and practice. Discussions, case studies and hands-on exercises meanwhile shed light on the real‑world challenges of radiotherapy QA, for example limited resources and complex treatment techniques.
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The sessions focused strongly on how to set up, execute, and interpret audit results in a way that is both technically robust and clinically meaningful. Participants explored how to handle shared challenges, such as equipment choices and the practicalities of running audits in different settings. A lot of attention went to how audit outcomes feed back into clinical workflows – how you translate numbers into QA decisions, improvement actions and ultimately better treatment quality. Many participants left with concrete ideas for new local and (inter)national initiatives.
A highlight for many was the VSL lab tour. Attendees visited some of our key primary standards for dosimetry, including those for temperature, humidity and electrical quantities. Seeing the underlying standards up close helped connect the dots between high‑level metrology and everyday QA practice in radiotherapy departments. It also sparked valuable conversations about how traceability and uncertainty budgets can be communicated more clearly to clinical teams.
None of this would have been possible without the outstanding ESTRO faculty, led by Catharine Clark, together with Eduard Gershkevitsh, Stephen Kry, Joerg Lehmann, Tony Palmer, Russell Thomas, Mohammad Hussein, Andy Beavis and Núria Jornet. Their mix of technical expertise, clinical insight and practical experience created an open atmosphere where participants felt comfortable sharing challenges and experiences from their own centres.
We believe workshops like these will continue to support safer and more effective radiotherapy treatments, not simply by identifying errors, but by enabling concrete improvements through the sharing of knowledge and experience. When we come together, it becomes clear that dosimetry audits are not about pointing out errors, but about creating shared understanding and driving improvement. By aligning on methods, interpretations and expectations, we can make audits a powerful tool for continuous learning and better radiotherapy.
For those who could not attend this edition of the ESTRO Dosimetry Audit Course, do keep an eye on the ESTRO website for future courses and related workshops. There is a lot more to explore together, and by continuing this conversation across centres and countries, we can keep raising the bar for quality assurance in radiotherapy together!