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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Considerations for using data envelopment analysis for the assessment of radiotherapy treatment plan quality
AU - Simpson, John
AU - Raith, Andrea
AU - Rouse, Paul
AU - Ehrgott, Matthias
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2017/10/9
Y1 - 2017/10/9
N2 - Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely used method in operations research for the benchmarking and empirical assessment of productive efficiency. We have previously applied DEA for treatment plan analysis and demonstrated its ability to determine relative plan quality, however considerations regarding the optimal use of DEA were not considered in that work. In the current work we have extended the complexity of the DEA modelling to include an increased number of measures of treatment plan quality as well investigating the best method of accounting for patient geometry. Forty-one IMRT prostate treatment plans were retrospectively analysed using an input-oriented variable returns to scale DEA method. The impacts of DEA weight restrictions were analysed with reference to the ability of DEA to differentiate plan performance at a level of clinical significance. Patient geometry significantly influences plan quality and alternative methods for considering geometry in the DEA model were investigated. In this work we identify how best to use DEA for the relative assessment of prostate treatment plan quality.
AB - Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely used method in operations research for the benchmarking and empirical assessment of productive efficiency. We have previously applied DEA for treatment plan analysis and demonstrated its ability to determine relative plan quality, however considerations regarding the optimal use of DEA were not considered in that work. In the current work we have extended the complexity of the DEA modelling to include an increased number of measures of treatment plan quality as well investigating the best method of accounting for patient geometry. Forty-one IMRT prostate treatment plans were retrospectively analysed using an input-oriented variable returns to scale DEA method. The impacts of DEA weight restrictions were analysed with reference to the ability of DEA to differentiate plan performance at a level of clinical significance. Patient geometry significantly influences plan quality and alternative methods for considering geometry in the DEA model were investigated. In this work we identify how best to use DEA for the relative assessment of prostate treatment plan quality.
KW - Optimization
KW - Data envelopment analysis
KW - Operations research
KW - Quality audit
KW - Quality assessment
KW - Radiotherapy treatment planning
U2 - 10.1108/IJHCQA-08-2016-0121
DO - 10.1108/IJHCQA-08-2016-0121
M3 - Journal article
VL - 30
SP - 703
EP - 716
JO - International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
JF - International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
SN - 0952-6862
IS - 8
ER -