EORTC Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium.
Iridium Kankernetwerk, Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium.
Radiother Oncol. 2021 Feb;155:226-231. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2020.11.009. Epub 2020 Nov 17.
The EORTC Radiation Oncology Group uses a Facility Questionnaire (FQ) to collect information from its member radiation oncology departments. We analysed the FQ database for patient-related workload, staffing levels and infrastructure to determine developments in radiation oncology departments in the clinical trials community.
MATERIALS & METHODS: We exported the FQ database in August 2019. Departments were included if their FQ was created or updated within the two preceding years. Observations were compared with previous evaluations of the FQ database.
In total, 161 departments from 24 mostly European countries were analysed. The average number of patients per department increased by 3.0% to 2,453 (2013: 2,381). The annual number of patients decreased by 7.4% to 225 per radiation oncologist (2013: 243) and by 7.9% to 326 per medical physicist (2013: 354). In contrast, the number of patients increased by 23.3% to 106 per radiation therapist (RTT) (2013: 86) and per treatment unit by 3.9 % to 485 (2013: 467). In a pairwise comparison of departments that were available in 2013 and 2019, the number of patients per radiation oncologist (p = 0.02) and per physicist (p = 0.0003) decreased significantly. The number of departments that own a dedicated PET-CT scanner more than doubled (2013: 4%; 2019: 9%) and the availability of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) increased by 31.8% to 85.7% of the departments (2013: 65%).
The case-related workload per radiation oncologist and per physicist continues to decrease but increases per RTT and treatment unit. This is likely driven by an increased use of complex techniques, multimodality imaging and the implementation of automation in radiation oncology departments.
欧洲癌症研究与治疗组织放射肿瘤学组（EORTC Radiation Oncology Group）使用设施问卷（FQ）从其成员放射肿瘤学部门收集信息。我们分析了 FQ 数据库中与患者相关的工作量、人员配备水平和基础设施，以确定临床试验社区中放射肿瘤学部门的发展情况。
我们于 2019 年 8 月导出了 FQ 数据库。如果其 FQ 在过去两年内创建或更新过，则包含该部门。观察结果与之前对 FQ 数据库的评估进行了比较。
共分析了来自 24 个主要欧洲国家的 161 个部门。每个部门的平均患者人数增加了 3.0%，达到 2453 人（2013 年：2381 人）。每位放射肿瘤学家每年治疗的患者数量减少了 7.4%，至 225 人（2013 年：243 人），每位医学物理学家每年治疗的患者数量减少了 7.9%，至 326 人（2013 年：354 人）。相比之下，每位放射治疗师（RTT）治疗的患者数量增加了 23.3%，至 106 人（2013 年：86 人），每个治疗单元增加了 3.9%，至 485 人（2013 年：467 人）。在 2013 年和 2019 年都有数据的部门之间进行两两比较，每位放射肿瘤学家（p=0.02）和物理学家（p=0.0003）治疗的患者数量显著减少。拥有专用正电子发射断层扫描计算机断层扫描（PET-CT）扫描仪的部门数量增加了一倍多（2013 年：4%；2019 年：9%），立体定向体部放射治疗（SBRT）的可用性增加了 31.8%，达到 85.7%的部门（2013 年：65%）。
每位放射肿瘤学家和物理学家的与病例相关的工作量继续减少，但每位 RTT 和治疗单元的工作量增加。这可能是由于放射肿瘤学部门中复杂技术、多模态成像和自动化的使用增加所致。
