Challenges in the target volume definition of lung cancer radiotherapy.

Radiotherapy, with or without systemic treatment has an important role in the management of lung cancer. In order to deliver the treatment accurately, the clinician must precisely outline the gross tumour volume (GTV), mostly on computed tomography (CT) images. However, due to the limited contrast between tumour and non-malignant changes in the lung tissue, it can be difficult to distinguish the tumour boundaries on CT images leading to large interobserver variation and differences in interpretation.

Impact of Peer Review in Reducing Uncertainty in the Definition of the Lung Target Volume Among Trainee Oncologists.

Aims: To evaluate the impact of peer review and contouring workshops on reducing uncertainty in target volume delineation for lung cancer radiotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Data from two lung cancer target volume delineation courses were analysed. In total, 22 trainees in clinical oncology working across different UK centres attended these courses with priori experience in lung cancer radiotherapy.

The impact of training and professional collaboration on the interobserver variation of lung cancer delineations: a multi-institutional study.

Background: To assess the impact of training and interprofessional collaboration on the interobserver variation in the delineation of the lung gross tumor volume (GTVp) and lymph node (GTVln).

Material And Methods: Eight target volume delineations courses were organized between 2008 and 2013. Specialists and trainees in radiation oncology were asked to delineate the GTVp and GTVln on four representative CT images of a patient diagnosed with lung cancer individually prior each course (baseline), together as group (interprofessional collaboration) and post-training.

Comparison of SUVmax and SUVpeak based segmentation to determine primary lung tumour volume on FDG PET-CT correlated with pathology data.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare simple SUVmax and SUVpeak based segmentation methods for calculating the lung tumour volume, compared to a pathology ground truth.

Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with early stage Non-Small Cell lung cancer (NSCLC) underwent surgical resection in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2008. FDG PET-CT scans for these patients were acquired within a median of 20 days before surgery.