title: Evaluation of tomotherapy MVCT image enhancement program for tumor volume delineation.
abstract: The aims of this study were to investigate the variability between physicians in delineation of head and neck tumors on original tomotherapy megavoltage CT (MVCT) studies and corresponding software enhanced MVCT images, and to establish an optimal approach for evaluation of image improvement. Five physicians contoured the gross tumor volume (GTV) for three head and neck cancer patients on 34 original and enhanced MVCT studies. Variation between original and enhanced MVCT studies was quantified by DICE coefficient and the coefficient of variance. Based on volume of agreement between physicians, higher correlation in terms of average DICE coefficients was observed in GTV delineation for enhanced MVCT for patients 1, 2, and 3 by 15%, 3%, and 7%, respectively, while delineation variance among physicians was reduced using enhanced MVCT for 12 of 17 weekly image studies. Enhanced MVCT provides advantages in reduction of variance among physicians in delineation of the GTV. Agreement on contouring by the same physician on both original and enhanced MVCT was equally high.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Spencer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavamani
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Belal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Varagur
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venkatesan
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Renaud
authors.forename: Slav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yartsev
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D047368:Tumor Burden