Expert consensus contouring guidelines for intensity modulated radiation therapy in esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer Journal Article


Authors: Wu, A. J.; Bosch, W. R.; Chang, D. T.; Hong, T. S.; Jabbour, S. K.; Kleinberg, L. R.; Mamon, H. J.; Thomas, C. R. Jr; Goodman, K. A.
Article Title: Expert consensus contouring guidelines for intensity modulated radiation therapy in esophageal and gastroesophageal junction cancer
Abstract: Purpose/Objective(s) Current guidelines for esophageal cancer contouring are derived from traditional 2-dimensional fields based on bony landmarks, and they do not provide sufficient anatomic detail to ensure consistent contouring for more conformal radiation therapy techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Therefore, we convened an expert panel with the specific aim to derive contouring guidelines and generate an atlas for the clinical target volume (CTV) in esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. Methods and Materials Eight expert academically based gastrointestinal radiation oncologists participated. Three sample cases were chosen: a GEJ cancer, a distal esophageal cancer, and a mid-upper esophageal cancer. Uniform computed tomographic (CT) simulation datasets and accompanying diagnostic positron emission tomographic/CT images were distributed to each expert, and the expert was instructed to generate gross tumor volume (GTV) and CTV contours for each case. All contours were aggregated and subjected to quantitative analysis to assess the degree of concordance between experts and to generate draft consensus contours. The panel then refined these contours to generate the contouring atlas. Results The κ statistics indicated substantial agreement between panelists for each of the 3 test cases. A consensus CTV atlas was generated for the 3 test cases, each representing common anatomic presentations of esophageal cancer. The panel agreed on guidelines and principles to facilitate the generalizability of the atlas to individual cases. Conclusions This expert panel successfully reached agreement on contouring guidelines for esophageal and GEJ IMRT and generated a reference CTV atlas. This atlas will serve as a reference for IMRT contours for clinical practice and prospective trial design. Subsequent patterns of failure analyses of clinical datasets using these guidelines may require modification in the future. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: radiotherapy; computerized tomography; tomography; diagnosis; intensity-modulated radiation therapy; diseases; radiation oncologists; gastroesophageal junction; clinical target volumes; computed tomographic; methods and materials; conformal radiation therapy; guidelines and principles
Journal Title: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics
Volume: 92
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0360-3016
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.  
Date Published: 2015-07-15
Start Page: 911
End Page: 920
Language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2015.03.030
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC4481325
PUBMED: 26104943
DOI/URL:
Notes: Export Date: 2 July 2015 -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Karyn A Goodman
    257 Goodman
  2. Abraham Jing-Ching Wu
    395 Wu