Dataset Information

Consequences of anorectal cancer atlas implementation in the cooperative group setting: radiobiologic analysis of a prospective randomized in silico target delineation study.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The aim of this study is to ascertain the subsequent radiobiological impact of using a consensus guideline target volume delineation atlas.

Materials and methods

Using a representative case and target volume delineation instructions derived from a proposed IMRT rectal cancer clinical trial, gross tumor volume (GTV) and clinical/planning target volumes (CTV/PTV) were contoured by 13 physician observers (Phase 1). The observers were then randomly assigned to follow (atlas) or not-follow (control) a consensus guideline/atlas for anorectal cancers, and instructed to re-contour the same case (Phase 2).

Results

The atlas group was found to have increased tumor control probability (TCP) after the atlas intervention for both the CTV (p<0.0001) and PTV1 (p=0.0011) with decreasing normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) for small intestine, while the control group did not. Additionally, the atlas group had reduced variance in TCP for all target volumes and reduced variance in NTCP for the bowel. In Phase 2, the atlas group had increased TCP relative to the control for CTV (p=0.03).

Conclusions

Visual atlas and consensus treatment guideline usage in the development of rectal cancer IMRT treatment plans reduced the inter-observer radiobiological variation, with clinically relevant TCP alteration for CTV and PTV volumes.

SUBMITTER: Mavroidis P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4258107 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Consequences of anorectal cancer atlas implementation in the cooperative group setting: radiobiologic analysis of a prospective randomized in silico target delineation study.

Mavroidis Panayiotis P Giantsoudis Drosoula D Awan Musaddiq J MJ Nijkamp Jasper J Rasch Coen R N CR Duppen Joop C JC Thomas Charles R CR Okunieff Paul P Jones William E WE Kachnic Lisa A LA Papanikolaou Niko N Fuller Clifton D CD

Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology 20140701 3

<h4>Purpose</h4>The aim of this study is to ascertain the subsequent radiobiological impact of using a consensus guideline target volume delineation atlas.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>Using a representative case and target volume delineation instructions derived from a proposed IMRT rectal cancer clinical trial, gross tumor volume (GTV) and clinical/planning target volumes (CTV/PTV) were contoured by 13 physician observers (Phase 1). The observers were then randomly assigned to follow (atlas) o ...[more]

PMID: 24996454

Similar Datasets

Project description:IntroductionTarget delineation variability is a significant technical impediment in multi-institutional trials which employ intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), as there is a real potential for clinically meaningful variances that can impact the outcomes in clinical trials. The goal of this study is to determine the variability of target delineation among participants from different institutions as part of Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Radiotherapy Committee's multi-institutional in-silico quality assurance study in patients with Pancoast tumors as a "dry run" for trial implementation.MethodsCT simulation scans were acquired from four patients with Pancoast tumor. Two patients had simulation 4D-CT and FDG-FDG PET-CT while two patients had 3D-CT and FDG-FDG PET-CT. Seventeen SWOG-affiliated physicians independently delineated target volumes defined as gross primary and nodal tumor volumes (GTV_P & GTV_N), clinical target volume (CTV), and planning target volume (PTV).Six board-certified thoracic radiation oncologists were designated as the 'Experts' for this study. Their delineations were used to create a simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) contours using ADMIRE software (Elekta AB, Sweden 2017). Individual participants' contours were then compared with Experts' STAPLE contours.ResultsWhen compared to the Experts' STAPLE, GTV_P had the best agreement among all participants, while GTV_N showed the lowest agreement among all participants. There were no statistically significant differences in all studied parameters for all TVs for cases with 4D-CT versus cases with 3D-CT simulation scans.ConclusionsHigh degree of inter-observer variation was noted for all target volume except for GTV_P, unveiling potentials for protocol modification for subsequent clinically meaningful improvement in target definition. Various similarity indices exist that can be used to guide multi-institutional radiotherapy delineation QA credentialing.

Project description:The social environment in which individuals live affects their fitness and in turn population dynamics as a whole. Birds with facultative cooperative breeding can live in social groups with dominants, subordinate helpers that assist with the breeding of others, and subordinate non-helpers. Helping behaviour benefits dominants through increased reproductive rates and reduced extrinsic mortality, such that cooperative breeding might have evolved in response to unpredictable, harsh conditions affecting reproduction and/or survival of the dominants. Additionally, there may be different costs and benefits to both helpers and non-helpers, depending on the time-scale. For example, early-life costs might be compensated by later-life benefits. These differential effects are rarely analysed in the same study. We examined whether helping behaviour affects population persistence in a stochastic environment and whether there are direct fitness consequences of different life-history tactics adopted by helpers and non-helpers. We parameterised a matrix population model describing the population dynamics of female Seychelles warblers Acrocephalus sechellensis, birds that display facultative cooperative breeding. The stochastic density-dependent model is defined by a (st)age structure that includes life-history differences between helpers and non-helpers and thus can estimate the demographic mechanisms of direct benefits of helping behaviour. We found that population dynamics are strongly influenced by stochastic variation in the reproductive rates of the dominants, that helping behaviour promotes population persistence and that there are only early-life differences in the direct fitness of helpers and non-helpers. Through a matrix population model, we captured multiple demographic rates simultaneously and analysed their relative importance in determining population dynamics of these cooperative breeders. Disentangling early-life versus lifetime effects of individual tactics sheds new light on the costs and benefits of helping behaviour. For example, the finding that helpers and non-helpers have similar lifetime reproductive outputs and that differences in reproductive values between the two life-history tactics arise only in early life suggests that overall, helpers and non-helpers have a similar balance of costs and benefits when analysing direct benefits. We recommend analysing the consequence of different life-history tactics, during both early life and over the lifetime, as analyses of these different time frames may produce conflicting results.

Dataset Information

Consequences of anorectal cancer atlas implementation in the cooperative group setting: radiobiologic analysis of a prospective randomized in silico target delineation study.

Purpose

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Consequences of anorectal cancer atlas implementation in the cooperative group setting: radiobiologic analysis of a prospective randomized in silico target delineation study.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets