Assessment of the novel online delineation workshop dummy run approach using FALCON within a European multicentre trial in cervical cancer (RAIDs)

Radiotherapy and theranostics: a Lancet Oncology Commission

Following on from the 2015 Lancet Oncology Commission on expanding global access to radiotherapy, Radiotherapy and theranostics: a Lancet Oncology Commission was created to assess the access and availability of radiotherapy to date and to address the important issue of access to the promising field of theranostics at a global level. A marked disparity in the availability of radiotherapy machines between high-income countries and low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been identified previously and remains a major problem. The availability of a suitably trained and credentialled workforce has also been highlighted as a major limiting factor to effective implementation of radiotherapy, particularly in LMICs. We investigated initiatives that could mitigate these issues in radiotherapy, such as extended treatment hours, hypofractionation protocols, and new technologies. The broad implementation of hypofractionation techniques compared with conventional radiotherapy in prostate cancer and breast cancer was projected to provide radiotherapy for an additional 2·2 million patients (0·8 million patients with prostate cancer and 1·4 million patients with breast cancer) with existing resources, highlighting the importance of implementing new technologies in LMICs. A global survey undertaken for this Commission revealed that use of radiopharmaceutical therapy-other than 131I-was highly variable in high-income countries and LMICs, with supply chains, workforces, and regulatory issues affecting access and availability. The capacity for radioisotope production was highlighted as a key issue, and training and credentialling of health professionals involved in theranostics is required to ensure equitable access and availability for patient treatment. New initiatives-such as the International Atomic Energy Agency's Rays of Hope programme-and interest by international development banks in investing in radiotherapy should be supported by health-care systems and governments, and extended to accelerate the momentum generated by recognising global disparities in access to radiotherapy. In this Commission, we propose actions and investments that could enhance access to radiotherapy and theranostics worldwide, particularly in LMICs, to realise health and economic benefits and reduce the burden of cancer by accessing these treatments.

Evaluation of the impact of teaching on delineation variation during a virtual stereotactic ablative radiotherapy contouring workshop

Introduction:

Variation in delineation of target volumes/organs at risk (OARs) is well recognised in radiotherapy and may be reduced by several methods including teaching. We evaluated the impact of teaching on contouring variation for thoracic/pelvic stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) during a virtual contouring workshop.

Materials and methods:

Target volume/OAR contours produced by workshop participants for three cases were evaluated against reference contours using DICE similarity coefficient (DSC) and line domain error (LDE) metrics. Pre- and post-workshop DSC results were compared using Wilcoxon signed ranks test to determine the impact of teaching during the workshop.

Results:

Of 50 workshop participants, paired pre- and post-workshop contours were available for 21 (42%), 20 (40%) and 22 (44%) participants for primary lung cancer, pelvic bone metastasis and pelvic node metastasis cases, respectively. Statistically significant improvements post-workshop in median DSC and LDE results were observed for 6 (50%) and 7 (58%) of 12 structures, respectively, although the magnitude of DSC/LDE improvement was modest in most cases. An increase in median DSC post-workshop ≥0·05 was only observed for GTVbone, IGTVlung and SacralPlex, and reduction in median LDE > 1 mm was only observed for GTVbone, CTVbone and SacralPlex. Post-workshop, median DSC values were >0·7 for 75% of structures. For 92% of the structures, post-workshop contours were considered to be acceptable or within acceptable variation following review by the workshop faculty.

Conclusions:

This study has demonstrated that virtual SABR contouring training is feasible and was associated with some improvements in contouring variation for multiple target volumes/OARs.

ESTRO ACROP guidelines for the delineation of lymph nodal areas in upper gastrointestinal malignancies

The European SocieTy for Radiation and Oncology -Advisory Committee on Radiation Oncology Practice (ESTRO-ACROP) endorsed a project to provide guidelines (GL) for the identification and delineation of clinically negative lymph-nodal stations (LNs) involved in upper gastrointestinal clinical scenarios. The presented GL is focused on preoperative (or definitive) setting. The project aim is to improve the consistency of clinical target volume (CTV) delineation by providing: a description of the anatomical boundaries of the LNs; a radiological computed tomography-based atlas depicting the LNs areas; a free, web-based, interactive example case for independent training of radiation oncologists on LNs delineation according to the presented GL, by both qualitative and quantitative analysis (through the FALCON EduCase platform). This project was carried out with the intention to facilitate and improve uniformity of future upper gastrointestinal guidelines on nodal CTV delineation. We report methodology and results from the collaboration of a working group panel selected by the ESTRO-ACROP.

Quality Assurance of Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy in a Randomized Trial for Locally Advanced Oesophageal cancer

PURPOSE

The ongoing phase 2/3 PRODIGE 26/CONCORDE trial compares chemoradiation therapy with and without dose escalation in patients with locally advanced or unresectable esophageal cancer. The results of a benchmark case procedure are reported here to evaluate the protocol compliance of participating centers as part of quality assurance for radiation therapy.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Volume delineation, target coverage, and dose constraints to the organs at risk (OARs) were assessed on treatment plans of a common benchmark case performed by each participating center. The centers were classified in 3 categories: per protocol, minor acceptable deviation (MiD), or major unacceptable deviation (MaD). A plan was rejected if ≥4 MiDs or 1 MaD were found.

RESULTS

Thirty-5 centers submitted 43 plans. Among them, 14 (32.6%) were per protocol, 19 (44.2%) presented at least 1 MiD, 2 (4.6%) presented at least 1 MaD, and 8 (18.6%) presented both MiD and MaD. Overall, 11 (25.6%) plans were rejected. Only 1 plan was rejected because gross tumor volume was not correctly delineated. The OAR delineation was respected in all cases. Dose constraints to the OARs were respected in the majority of cases except for the heart, where one-third of the plans presented a deviation. As for the target volume, 3 plans (5.8%) had a major underdosage and 1 plan (1.9%) had a major overdosage. Overall, 58% of all treatments were planned with intensity modulated radiation therapy, whereas 42% were planned with 3-dimensional chemoradiation therapy. Significantly more plans in the intensity modulated radiation therapy group were accepted compared with the 3-dimensional chemoradiation therapy group (P = .03).

CONCLUSION

The high frequency of protocol deviations underlines the importance of a quality assurance program in clinical trials. Further work should assess the impact of quality assurance for radiation therapy on patient outcomes.