title: CT scanning for definitive radiotherapy planning of prostate cancer: necessity or nicety? Results from survey of radiation oncologists working at different institutions in Australasia.
abstract: Interactive computerised tomographic (CT) planning techniques offer the prospect of better anatomical localisation, more consistent tumour coverage, and limiting normal tissue dose. However, its value in the management of prostate cancer remains undefined. The present study addresses the impact of planning CT on the designated target volumes for localised carcinoma of the prostate at a multi-institution national level. Nine radiation oncologists from different centres in Australia and New Zealand were asked to designate a target volume on five sample patients with different disease stages (A2-C2) using both conventional cystogram films and planning CT scans. Target volumes estimated by CT means in this study differed by more than 10% from those estimated by conventional means in 75.6% of instances, being smaller in 55.6%. Volumes varied widely between individual radiation oncologists, both using conventional planning and CT information. These variations were found to exceed any differences in the volume caused by the planning technique itself. Results from this survey suggest that volumes appear to change more according to the individual radiation oncologist rather than to any other factor. In most or all of the sample cases six of nine radiation oncologists defined the borders of their CT volumes to be either consistently smaller (5 out of 9) or greater (1 out of 9) than their conventionally defined borders. The results of this survey are potentially important and warrant repetition with larger sample numbers in other countries where interactive CT planning facilities exist, both with and without diagnostic radiological input, to exclude similar variation and to define causes for any variations that do become apparent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Newcastle Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Waratah, N.S.W. Australia.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skov
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Denham
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015588:Observer Variation; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed