Head and neck quality assurance 2014

Quality assurance (QA) in complex head and neck cancer trials is essential. The need for QA is made more relevant with trials comprised of multiple end points, worldwide participation, and increasing use of adaptive strategies/advanced technology to validate/verify outcome analyses. Integration is necessary for tissue analysis, biomarker assessment, imaging, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and/or targeted therapy for patients with new diagnosis, relapse, and second head and neck malignancies. Credentialing, data acquisition, management, review, and archive processes must be flexible and consistent for real-time review and validated results. Central to these comprehensive processes is a robust informatics platform for daily operation, data integrity, and communication. The ability to query well-constructed data repositories of clinical information, radiation and medical oncology, tissue, biomarker, and imaging objects is important to answer current and future questions. These libraries are extraordinary teaching resources. Imaging, tissue, and biomarker analyses are key components of head and neck trials. Radiation therapy is a core treatment strategy, and trials will continue to study acute/late effects, tumor control, radiation dose-volume constraints, target definition, recurrence, and second malignancies. QA remains the most invaluable construct to trial management. Protocol-compliant management provides consistent care through which new paradigms of care can be established and validated.