Purpose: To increase intraprocedural efficiency in the use of clinical resources and to decrease planning time for cervical cancer brachytherapy treatments through redesign of the procedure's process map.
Methods And Materials: A multidisciplinary team identified all tasks and associated resources involved in cervical cancer brachytherapy in our institution and arranged them in a process map. A redesign of the treatment planning component of the process map was conducted with the goal of minimizing planning time. Planning time was measured on 20 consecutive insertions, of which 10 were performed with standard procedures and 10 with the redesigned process map, and results were compared. Statistical significance (p < 0.05) was measured with a two-tailed t test.
Results: Twelve tasks involved in cervical cancer brachytherapy treatments were identified. The process map showed that in standard procedures, the treatment planning tasks were performed sequentially. The process map was redesigned to specify that contouring and some planning tasks are performed concomitantly. Some quality assurance tasks were reorganized to minimize adverse effects of a possible error on procedure time. Test dry runs followed by live implementation confirmed the applicability of the new process map to clinical conditions. A 29% reduction in planning time (p < 0.01) was observed with the introduction of the redesigned process map.
Conclusions: A process map for cervical cancer brachytherapy was generated. The treatment planning component of the process map was redesigned, resulting in a 29% decrease in planning time and a streamlining of the quality assurance process.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4468005 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brachy.2014.11.016 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Quantitative risk assessment of rainstorm-induced flood disaster in Piedmont plain of Pakistan.
Sci Rep
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and GeoEnvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan, China.
Pakistan's geographic location makes it an important land hub between Central Asia, Middle East-North Africa, and China. However, the railways, roads, farmland, riverways, and residential quarters in the Piedmont plains of Baluchistan province in northwestern Pakistan are under serious threat of flooding in the summer of 2022. The urgency and severity of climate change's impact on humanity are underscored by the significant threats posed to human life and property in Piedmont Plains environments through extreme flood events, which has garnered widespread concerns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnsupervised self-organising map classification of Raman spectra from prostate cell lines uncovers substratified prostate cancer disease states.
Sci Rep
January 2025
School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
Prostate cancer is a disease which poses an interesting clinical question: Should it be treated? Only a small subset of prostate cancers are aggressive and require removal and treatment to prevent metastatic spread. However, conventional diagnostics remain challenged to risk-stratify such patients; hence, new methods of approach to biomolecularly sub-classify the disease are needed. Here we use an unsupervised self-organising map approach to analyse live-cell Raman spectroscopy data obtained from prostate cell-lines; our aim is to exemplify this method to sub-stratify, at the single-cell-level, the cancer disease state using high-dimensional datasets with minimal preprocessing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDecoding the protein methylome: Identification, validation, and functional insights.
Bioorg Med Chem
December 2024
Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery, Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States. Electronic address:
Protein methylation regulates diverse cellular processes including gene expression and DNA repair. This review discusses the methods of identifying and validating substrates for protein methyltransferases (MTases), as well as the biological roles of methylation. Meanwhile, we outline continued efforts necessary to fully map MTase-substrate pairs and uncover the complex regulatory roles of protein methylation in cellular function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNonhuman primate antigenic cartography of SARS-CoV-2.
Cell Rep
January 2025
Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Electronic address:
Virus neutralization profiles against primary infection sera and corresponding antigenic cartography are integral part of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccine strain selection processes. Human single variant exposure sera have previously defined the antigenic relationships among SARS-CoV-2 variants but are now largely unavailable due to widespread population immunity. Therefore, antigenic characterization of future SARS-CoV-2 variants will require an animal model, analogous to using ferrets for influenza virus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPractices and attitudes of adult psychiatrists regarding methamphetamine-associated psychotic disorder: an internet based survey conducted in Turkey.
BMC Health Serv Res
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.
Background: Many variables may affect approaches of psychiatrists to methamphetamine-associated psychotic disorder (MAP) treatment. This study was aimed to reach adult psychiatrists actively practicing in Turkey through an internet-based survey and to determine their practices and attitudes to MAP treatment.
Methods: In this internet-based study, participants were divided into three groups based on their answers: Those who do not follow-up any MAP patient were group 1 (n = 78), partially involved in the treatment process of at least one patient diagnosed with MAP were group 2 (n = 128), completely involved in the treatment process of at least one patient diagnosed with MAP were group 3 (n = 202).
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!