Mantle planning: report of the Australasian Radiation Oncology Lymphoma Group film survey and consensus guidelines.
The purpose of the present paper was to measure the variation in mantle planning in Australia and New Zealand. A chest X-ray (CXR) of a patient in the supine position with a neck node marked by wire was sent to every radiation oncologist in Australia and New Zealand. They were to mark on the CXR the lung blocks that they would use to treat this patient, assuming that the patient had stage IA Hodgkin's disease. These marks were compared with a small sample of radiologists who were asked to define the mediastinum on the same CXR. Radiation oncologists were also asked to complete a short questionnaire about other modifications to their treatment fields and their experience with this technique. One hundred and six films were sent out and 44 radiation oncologists replied. There was a maximum variation in the placement of their lung blocks of 6 cm. Half of the lung blocks were within a 2-cm range. One respondent said they would not use a mantle field to treat this patient. Mediastinal coverage was inadequate in at least 50% of cases. There was a very large variation in mantle field planning practices within Australia and New Zealand. For this reason Australasian Radiation Oncology Lymphoma Group has produced consensus guidelines for mantle block design. These are appended to the present paper.
Barton
M B
MB
Liverpool Hospital, Australia. michael.barton@swsahs.nsw.gov.au
Rose
A
A
Lonergan
D
D
Thornton
D
D
O'Brien
P
P
Trotter
G
G
D001315:Australia; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009520:New Zealand; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D016683:Supine Position; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy*