Estimating the Need for Radiotherapy

Department of Cancer Care and Epidemiology

Queen's Cancer Research Institute

Kingston Regional Cancer Centre

ENTER SITE

The delivery of radiotherapy (RT) requires specialized personnel, equipment, and facilities. It takes a long time to commission new facilities and train the staff to operate them. RT systems, therefore, require careful, long-term planning.

A model has been created, which defines the appropriate rate of use of RT for four major cancer sites in a “typical” North American population. The model has been set up in such a manner that it can be modified not only to fit any specific guidelines for indications for RT that may have been adopted in a particular community, but also the proportion of incident cases in the community that will develop one or more of these indications.

This model provides a reasonable way of assessing the need for RT at the population level and thus provides a rational basis for the long-term planning of radiation services.