Interrater agreement of contouring of the neurovascular bundles and internal pudendal arteries in neurovascular-sparing magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Radiation damage to neural and vascular tissue, such as the neurovascular bundles (NVBs) and internal pudendal arteries (IPAs), during radiotherapy for prostate cancer (PCa) may cause erectile dysfunction. Neurovascular-sparing magnetic resonance-guided adaptive radiotherapy (MRgRT) aims to preserve erectile function after treatment. However, the NVBs and IPAs are not routinely contoured in current radiotherapy practice. Before neurovascular-sparing MRgRT for PCa can be implemented, the interrater agreement of the contouring of the NVBs and IPAs on pre-treatment MRI needs to be assessed.

Materials and methods

Four radiation oncologists independently contoured the prostate, NVB, and IPA in an unselected consecutive series of 15 PCa patients, on pre-trea

SUBMITTER: Teunissen FR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8605225 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature