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Radiation Oncology
Published in: Radiation Oncology 1/2009

Open Access 01-12-2009 | Research

Conformal radiotherapy for lung cancer: interobservers' variability in the definition of gross tumor volume between radiologists and radiotherapists

Authors: Chiang J Tyng, Rubens Chojniak, Paula NV Pinto, Marcelle A Borba, Almir GV Bitencourt, Ricardo C Fogaroli, Douglas G Castro, Paulo E Novaes

Published in: Radiation Oncology | Issue 1/2009

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Abstract

Background

Conformal external radiotherapy aims to improve tumor control by boosting tumor dose, reducing morbidity and sparing healthy tissues. To meet this objective careful visualization of the tumor and adjacent areas is required. However, one of the major issues to be solved in this context is the volumetric definition of the targets. This study proposes to compare the gross volume of lung tumors as delineated by specialized radiologists and radiotherapists of a cancer center.

Methods

Chest CT scans of a total of 23 patients all with non-small cell lung cancer, not submitted to surgery, eligible and referred to conformal radiotherapy on the Hospital A. C. Camargo (São Paulo, Brazil), during the year 2004 were analyzed. All cases were delineated by 2 radiologists and 2 radiotherapists. Only the gross tumor volume and the enlarged lymph nodes were delineated. As such, four gross tumor volumes were achieved for each one of the 23 patients.

Results

There was a significant positive correlation between the 2 measurements (among the radiotherapists, radiologists and intra-class) and there was randomness in the distribution of data within the constructed confidence interval.

Conclusion

There were no significant differences in the definition of gross tumor volume between radiologists and radiotherapists.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Conformal radiotherapy for lung cancer: interobservers' variability in the definition of gross tumor volume between radiologists and radiotherapists
Authors
Chiang J Tyng
Rubens Chojniak
Paula NV Pinto
Marcelle A Borba
Almir GV Bitencourt
Ricardo C Fogaroli
Douglas G Castro
Paulo E Novaes
Publication date
01-12-2009
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Radiation Oncology / Issue 1/2009
Electronic ISSN: 1748-717X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-717X-4-28

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