Investigation of the basic situation of radiotherapy in Xinjiang in 2020 / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the application of radiotherapy and the basic situation of teaching and scientific research in Xinjiang.Methods:A unified questionnaire was adopted, distributed and collected by mail, instant messaging software and telephone. The basic situation of all radiotherapy affiliations in the whole region was counted.Results:The questionnaire coverage rate was 100% with a recovery rate of 100%. In 2020, 17 affiliations operated radiotherapy in Xinjiang, including 23 linear accelerators, 1 cobalt-60 therapeutic machine, 3 gamma knives, 6 post-installed therapeutic machines, 13 special analogue positioning machines, 46 treatment planning systems, and 103 sets of radiotherapy quality control equipment. It was estimated that the number of radiotherapy equipment for one million people in the whole region was approximately 0.84. In Xinjiang, 359 radiotherapy personnel were registered, including 220 physicians, 49 physicists and 90 technicians. A total of 1 270 beds were available, with an average daily treatment volume of approximately 1 255 person-times. From 2016 to 2021, 17 affiliations have undertaken 9 National Natural Science Foundation of China and 49 provincial and ministerial projects. Nineteen doctoral degrees and 87 master′s degrees were accredited. These affiliations participated in the publication of 25 articles in Chinese Journal of Radiation Oncology, of which 18 were published as the first authors and/or corresponding authors.Conclusions:The radiotherapy work in Xinjiang has developed rapidly in recent years, but there is still a certain gap with the national average level. At the same time, several problems still exist in the whole region, such as regional differences, unbalanced allocation of radiotherapy resources and scientific research and teaching resources, which need further improvement.