Effectiveness of educational intervention on the congruence of prostate and rectal contouring as compared with a gold standard in three-dimensional radiotherapy for prostate.
OBJECTIVE
To examine effects of a teaching intervention on precise delineation of the prostate and rectum during planning of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for prostate cancer.


METHODS
A pretest, posttest, randomized controlled group design was used. During pretest all participants contoured prostate and rectum on planning CT. Afterward, they participated in two types of workshops. The experimental group engaged in an interactive teaching session focused on prostate and rectum MR anatomy compared with CT anatomy. The control group focused on 3D-CRT planning without mention of prostate or rectal contouring. The experimental group practiced on fused MR-CT images, whereas the control group practiced on CT images. All participants completed the posttest.


RESULTS
Thirty-one trainees (12 male, 19 female) were randomly assigned to two groups, 17 in the experimental arm, and 14 in the control group. Seventeen felt familiar or very familiar with pelvic organ contouring, 12 somewhat, and 2 had never done it. Thirteen felt confident with organ contouring, 13 somewhat, and 5 not confident. The demographics and composition of groups were analyzed with chi(2) and repeated-measures analysis of variance with the two groups (experimental or control) and two tests (pre- or posttest) as factors. Satisfaction with the course and long-term effects of the course on practice were assessed with immediate and delayed surveys. All performance variables showed a similar pattern of results.


CONCLUSIONS
The training sessions improved the technical performance similarly in both groups. Participants were satisfied with the course content, and the delayed survey reflected that cognitively participants felt more confident with prostate and rectum contouring and would investigate opportunities to learn more about organ contouring.
Szumacher
Ewa
E
Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ewa.Szumacher@sunnybrook.ca
Harnett
Nicole
N
Warner
Saar
S
Kelly
Valerie
V
Danjoux
Cyril
C
Barker
Ruth
R
Woo
Milton
M
Mah
Kathy
K
Ackerman
Ida
I
Dubrowski
Adam
A
Rose
Stuart
S
Crook
Juanita
J
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000193:education*; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal; D012007:Rectum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012015:Reference Standards; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards