# A national repository of radiotherapy dose plans linked to outcomes

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-radiotherapy-dose-repository/  
OnCo record `idea-data-radiotherapy-dose-repository` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Radiotherapy machines record exactly how much dose every organ received, but the data are thrown away. Collect them and link to toxicities and cures to learn the safest, most effective doses.

## Summary

Every treated patient has a DICOM-RT plan with voxel-level dose to tumour and organs at risk. Pooled with outcomes, this supports data-driven dose constraints, toxicity models and quality benchmarking. The Netherlands and the English Radiotherapy Dataset have partial national data; the proposal makes automated plan deposition (DICOM-RT structures and dose) plus registry linkage universal, with governed access for research and quality improvement.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: A national dose-outcome repository will yield updated normal-tissue tolerance models within three years and reduce grade 3 or higher toxicity in at least one common site through revised constraints within five.
- Rationale: Radiotherapy is one of the most data-rich treatments and the least analysed; QUANTEC constraints rest on small series decades old. Dose-outcome modelling is a mature methodology waiting for data.
- Proposed test: Deposit plans from ten centres for one disease (for example head and neck) and model dysphagia and xerostomia against dose; compare with existing constraints and validate prospectively.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: clinic

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Data silos): AACR Project GENIE: https://www.aacr.org/professionals/research/aacr-project-genie/

## Connected records

- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/), [Radiation Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/radiation/)
- technologies: [IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)](https://onco.cc/technologies/imrt-igrt/), [Proton therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/proton-therapy/)
- companies: [Elekta](https://onco.cc/companies/elekta/), [Varian (Siemens Healthineers)](https://onco.cc/companies/varian/)
- bottlenecks: [Data silos](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-data-silos/), [Surgery and radiotherapy cure most, get least](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-surgery-radiation-innovation/), [Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/)

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