Effectiveness of networked electronic portal imaging in the treatment of head and neck lesions

The use of electronic portal imaging in daily routine is in effect implemented through a set of strict rules, determining when and where a physician looks at the image and how this information gets transferred to the therapists on the treatment floor. The flexibility available with the more traditional medium of film is thus lost. In the past the authors have proposed a system to alleviate this problem based on the client-server concept which has been used successfully to create the World Wide Web (WWW). The authors have tested the system for its use on pelvic fields and are now moving towards the implementation for all treatment sites. This system called Epicure allows physicians, therapists and others to access portal images anywhere within the department and if necessary outside of the department. The current study is aimed to assess the usefulness of the system for treatments in the head and neck area. The authors are mainly interested in the consistency and clinical usefulness of the image quality and in the impact of the use of EPID´s on the time constraints imposed by the number of patients treated on a single machine