[ RadSafe ] The French health ministry has ordered an indepen dent inquiry into the affair.

[BRISSON Nicolas]

Between 2001 and 2006 421 patients have had radiotherapy treatment for
prostate cancer.
Around 30 have been delivered 78 Gy as a "test" by the hospital crew. There
should have been a signed agreement from these patients to be part of this
test, which has not been the case.

The values of 70 to 78 Gy were the treatment doses to be delivered to the
patient, but they all received higher doses (around 6 more Gy) due to the
scanning of the patient (I apologize if it's not the right term, this isn't
really my field of work) done before each session. 
This scanning wasn't taken into account in the general treatment dose.



Nicolas Brisson
IRSN/DEI/SIAR
31, rue de l'Ecluse
78116 LE VESINET
tel : 01-30-15-42-75

-----Message d'origine-----
De : radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] De la part
de McMahan, Kimberly L.
Envoyé : mercredi 28 mars 2007 22:57
À : Jose Julio Rozental; radsafe at radlab.nl
Objet : RE: [ RadSafe ] The French health ministry has ordered an
independent inquiry into the affair.

The IRSN investigative report, in French, can be found at:
http://www.irsn.org/document/files/File/Internet/Actualites/synthese_mis
sion_radiotherapie_epinal.pdf

Unless I mis-read the document (definitely a possibility), the software
was not the direct cause, and these were not diagnostic "scans," they
were conformational radiotherapy treatments. Treatment planning
decisions were made by the medical staff at that hospital to deliver
higher doses in order to control the prostate cancers. The typical
protocol calls for a dose to the prostate of 70-74 Gy, while for these
patients the decision was made to deliver 78 Gy. This higher dose
over-exposed the nearby rectal tissue, with severe consequences. There
is some discussion in the report about the decision to effectively
engage in a clinical trial, and without informing the patients of
increased risks.

Kim McMAHAN  ORNL External Dosimetry