Guidelines for the Verification of Imrt Guidelines for the Verification of Imrt

V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When writing a booklet about a topic that is under rapid development such as the clinical introduction of an advanced treatment technique like IMRT, there is a chance that at the time of publication many solutions might already be obsolete or replaced by other approaches. We therefore greatly appreciate very much that we got the latest information from the participating centres about the way IMRT verification was implemented, as well as their experience in actual clinical practice. By sharing not only their positive experience with the readers of this booklet, but also by giving examples of errors found by applying their methodology, other centres can profit even more from their know-how. Some of that experience has been collected in a section on pitfalls and potential errors observed in these institutions. In order to develop and disseminate more uniform guidelines for validation of newly designed IMRT techniques, ESTRO started the QUASIMODO (Quality ASsurance of Intensity MODulated radiation Oncology) network. grant was obtained by a proposal carefully written by Germaine Heeren who was able to formulate the needs from the professionals working in hospitals in various European countries for the safe introduction of IMRT. We very much appreciate her efforts to start this activity and her continuous enthusiasm in following the progress of this project. Drafting a booklet in which the experience in the field of IMRT verification of a large number of institutions is discussed requires the cooperation of many persons. Besides those who contributed to the contents of this booklet by writing sections on a specific topic, and who are mentioned in the list of authors, we realise that many other persons have provided information that has been discussed in this booklet. We are grateful to all our colleagues who have contributed in one or other way to the contents of this booklet. Besides critically reading the manuscript, they also gave a large number of suggestions for improving the contents of the booklet. We are grateful for their meticulous work, which made the booklet much more valuable.