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The Radiological Physics Center (RPC) has functioned continuously for 38 years to assure NCI and the cooperative groups that institutions participating in multi-institutional trials can be expected to deliver radiation treatments that are clinically comparable to those delivered by other institutions in the cooperative groups. To accomplish this, the RPC monitors the machine output, the dosimetry data utilized by the institutions, the calculation algorithms used for treatment planning, and the institutions' quality control procedures. The methods of monitoring include on-site dosimetry review by an RPC physicist, and a variety of remote audit tools. The introduction of advanced technology clinical trials has prompted several study groups to require participating institutions and personnel to become credentialed, to assure their familiarity and capability with techniques such as 3DCRT, IMRT, SBRT and brachytherapy. The RPC conducts a variety of credentialing activities, beginning with questionnaires to evaluate an institution's understanding of the protocol and their capabilities. Treatment planning benchmarks are used to allow the institution to demonstrate their planning ability, and to facilitate a review of the accuracy of treatment planning systems under relevant conditions. The RPC also provides mailable anthropomorphic phantoms to verify tumor dose delivery for special treatment techniques. While conducting these reviews, the RPC has amassed a large amount of data describing the dosimetry at participating institutions. Representative data from the monitoring programs will be discussed and examples will be presented of specific instances in which the RPC contributed to the discovery and resolution of dosimetry errors.

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