TY - JOUR
T1 - Survey on fan-beam computed tomography for radiotherapy
T2 - Imaging for dose calculation and delineation
AU - Decabooter, Esther
AU - Hilgers, Guido C.
AU - De Rouck, Joke
AU - Salvo, Koen
AU - Van Wingerden, Jacobus
AU - Bosmans, Hilde
AU - van der Heyden, Brent
AU - Qamhiyeh, Sima
AU - Papalazarou, Chrysi
AU - Kaatee, Robert
AU - Pittomvils, Geert
AU - Bogaert, Evelien
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - Background and purpose: To obtain an understanding of current practice, professional needs and future directions in the field of fan-beam CT in RT, a survey was conducted. This work presents the collected information regarding the use of CT imaging for dose calculation and structure delineation.Materials and methods: An online institutional survey was distributed to medical physics experts employed at Belgian and Dutch radiotherapy institutions to assess the status, challenges, and future directions of QA practices for fan-beam CT. A maximum of 143 questions covered topics such as CT scanner availability, CT scanner specifications, QA protocols, treatment simulation workflow, and radiotherapy dose calculation. Answer forms were collected between 1-Sep-2022 and 10-Oct-2022.Results: A 66 % response rate was achieved, yielding data on a total of 58 CT scanners. For MV photon therapy, all single-energy CT scans are reconstructed in Hounsfield Units for delineation or dose calculation, and a direct- or stoichiometric method was used to convert CT numbers for dose calculation. Limited use of dual-energy CT is reported for photon (N = 3) and proton dose calculations (N = 1). For brachytherapy, most institutions adopt water-based dose calculation, while approximately 26 % of the institutions take tissue heterogeneity into account. Commissioning and regular QA include eleven tasks, which are performed by two or more professions (29/31) with varying frequencies.Conclusions: Dual usage of a planning CT limits protocol optimization for both tissue characterization and delineation. DECT has been implemented only gradually. A variation of QA testing frequencies and tests are reported.
AB - Background and purpose: To obtain an understanding of current practice, professional needs and future directions in the field of fan-beam CT in RT, a survey was conducted. This work presents the collected information regarding the use of CT imaging for dose calculation and structure delineation.Materials and methods: An online institutional survey was distributed to medical physics experts employed at Belgian and Dutch radiotherapy institutions to assess the status, challenges, and future directions of QA practices for fan-beam CT. A maximum of 143 questions covered topics such as CT scanner availability, CT scanner specifications, QA protocols, treatment simulation workflow, and radiotherapy dose calculation. Answer forms were collected between 1-Sep-2022 and 10-Oct-2022.Results: A 66 % response rate was achieved, yielding data on a total of 58 CT scanners. For MV photon therapy, all single-energy CT scans are reconstructed in Hounsfield Units for delineation or dose calculation, and a direct- or stoichiometric method was used to convert CT numbers for dose calculation. Limited use of dual-energy CT is reported for photon (N = 3) and proton dose calculations (N = 1). For brachytherapy, most institutions adopt water-based dose calculation, while approximately 26 % of the institutions take tissue heterogeneity into account. Commissioning and regular QA include eleven tasks, which are performed by two or more professions (29/31) with varying frequencies.Conclusions: Dual usage of a planning CT limits protocol optimization for both tissue characterization and delineation. DECT has been implemented only gradually. A variation of QA testing frequencies and tests are reported.
KW - Radiotherapy
KW - Computed tomography
KW - Quality assurance
KW - Survey
KW - Planning CT
KW - Protocol optimization
KW - CT
U2 - 10.1016/j.phro.2023.100522
DO - 10.1016/j.phro.2023.100522
M3 - Article
SN - 2405-6316
VL - 29
JO - Physics & Imaging in Radiation Oncology
JF - Physics & Imaging in Radiation Oncology
M1 - 100522
ER -