PMID- 10974384
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20001116
LR  - 20190831
IS  - 0167-8140 (Print)
IS  - 0167-8140 (Linking)
VI  - 56
IP  - 3
DP  - 2000 Sep
TI  - Quality assurance in preoperative radiotherapy of rectal cancer: evaluation of a 
      pre-trial dummy-run.
PG  - 341-7
AB  - PURPOSE: To assess inter-institution variability of treated volumes in 
      preoperative radiotherapy for rectal cancer among Austrian radiotherapy 
      institutions in the framework of a multi-centre phase-III clinical trial. 
      MATERIALS AND METHODS: All eleven Austrian radiotherapy departments were invited 
      to participate in this pre-study dummy-run. They received a short history of two 
      'dummy patients' (case A and case B); three computer assisted tomography (CT) 
      slices; simulation films; and the protocol describing the radiation technique to 
      be used. Participants were asked to prepare a treatment plan for either case on 
      the basis of the materials provided and to use their computerized planning 
      systems. Additionally and independently of the CT-based treatment plans, they 
      were asked to delineate the fields to be treated on the simulation films. 
      RESULTS: Nine of eleven departments participated. All participants used a three 
      or four field technique as requested. The variation of beam widths and planning 
      target volumes (PTVs) in the central plane was 6-11% and 11-16%, respectively. 
      The standard deviations (SD) were 21 and 24% for the two cases for mean treated 
      volumes of 2.1 and 2.9 l, respectively. The variation of beam widths in the 
      central plane was less pronounced in the simulation based treatment plans as 
      compared with the CT-based treatment plans for the dorsal fields, the opposite 
      was true for the laterals. CONCLUSION: Considerable variation of treated volumes 
      is inevitable in multi-institution trials despite detailed treatment guidelines. 
      Simulator based treatment fields seem to result in less pronounced 
      inter-institution variations compared with CT-based treatment planning, if bony 
      landmarks can be used as is the case in rectal cancer. Continuous quality control 
      is thus warranted in multi-centre trials to increase homogeneity of volumes 
      treated.
FAU - Widder, J
AU  - Widder J
AD  - Department of Radiotherapy and Radiobiology, Vienna University General Hospital, 
      Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
FAU - Sedlmayer, F
AU  - Sedlmayer F
FAU - Stanek, C
AU  - Stanek C
FAU - Potter, R
AU  - Potter R
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Ireland
TA  - Radiother Oncol
JT  - Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic 
      Radiology and Oncology
JID - 8407192
SB  - IM
MH  - Adenocarcinoma/*radiotherapy/surgery
MH  - Austria
MH  - *Clinical Trials as Topic
MH  - Combined Modality Therapy
MH  - Dose Fractionation, Radiation
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Multicenter Studies as Topic
MH  - Quality Assurance, Health Care
MH  - Radiotherapy Dosage
MH  - Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted/*standards
MH  - Rectal Neoplasms/*radiotherapy/surgery
MH  - Tomography, X-Ray Computed
EDAT- 2000/09/07 11:00
MHDA- 2001/02/28 10:01
CRDT- 2000/09/07 11:00
PHST- 2000/09/07 11:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2001/02/28 10:01 [medline]
PHST- 2000/09/07 11:00 [entrez]
AID - S0167-8140(00)00232-2 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/s0167-8140(00)00232-2 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Radiother Oncol. 2000 Sep;56(3):341-7. doi: 10.1016/s0167-8140(00)00232-2.