ArticleJournal of medical physics
Statistical Analysis of Corrective Maintenance in Linear Accelerators Used in Radiotherapy.
Article in Journal of medical physics. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- AI-driven troubleshooting for TrueBeam systems: Development and testing of a GPT-4.1 Chatbot.Technical innovations & patient support in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Linear accelerator (linac) downtime analysis assisted with a Large Language Model (LLM).Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: Knowing the downtime of linear accelerators (LINACs), as well as the intermediate time between failures, is essential to plan and carry out timely and reliable radiotherapy treatments. The purpose of this study is to analyze the data in the service reports of LINACs installed in four radiotherapy centers, by calculating indicators and metrics of their maintenance, as well as studying factors linked to their downtime, such as the spare parts used in the repairs of the equipment. Methodology: The maintenance database of LINAC of the commercial house Varian Medical Systems, was analyzed, and distributed in 5 years of a Clinac iX and a Clinac 2100CD, 4 years of a Clinac 21EX and a Clinac 2100CD, and 3 years of a Clinac 600C, located in different medical centers of oncological radiotherapy in the country. The data were classified according to the equipment, interlock, and area of failure in the equipment. Results: On average, 20 corrective maintenance tasks were performed annually for each equipment, and 33.9% of the corrective maintenance tasks performed were caused by the multileaf collimator (MLC) interlock. Of the three possible types of interlocks (major, minor, and dosimetry), 83% of the time, a minor type of interlock occurs. Regarding the location of the faults, 32% occur in the MLC. In addition, it was determined that the most requested spare part is the "Half Leaf MLC Motor." Conclusion: Collecting data associated with the downtime of LINACs and using them to calculate the indicators and metrics proposed in this research will allow for monitoring and implementing improvements in the planning of maintenance and treatments. Likewise, studying the demand for spare parts necessary to perform maintenance ensures proper inventory management.
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Registered trials
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