TY - JOUR
T1 - Agreement among RTOG sarcoma radiation oncologists in contouring suspicious peritumoral edema for preoperative radiation therapy of soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity
AU - Bahig, Houda
AU - Roberge, David
AU - Bosch, Walter
AU - Levin, William
AU - Petersen, Ivy
AU - Haddock, Michael
AU - Freeman, Carolyn
AU - Delaney, Thomas F.
AU - Abrams, Ross A.
AU - Indelicato, Danny J.
AU - Baldini, Elizabeth H.
AU - Hitchcock, Ying
AU - Kirsch, David G.
AU - Kozak, Kevin R.
AU - Wolfson, Aaron
AU - Wang, Dian
PY - 2013/6/1
Y1 - 2013/6/1
N2 - Purpose: Peritumoral edema may harbor sarcoma cells. The extent of suspicious edema (SE) included in the treatment volume is subject to clinical judgment, balancing the risk of missing tumor cells with excess toxicity. Our goal was to determine variability in SE delineation by sarcoma radiation oncologists (RO). Methods and Materials: Twelve expert ROs were provided with T1 gadolinium and T2-weighted MR images of 10 patients with high-grade extremity soft-tissue sarcoma. Gross tumor volume, clinical target volume (CTV)3cm (3 cm longitudinal and 1.5 cm radial margin), and CTV2cm (2 cm longitudinal and 1 cm radial margin) were contoured by a single observer. Suspicious peritumoral edema, defined as abnormal signal on T2 images, was independently delineated by all 12 ROs. Contouring agreement was analyzed using the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm and kappa statistics. Results: The mean volumes of GTV, CTV2cm, and CTV3cm were, respectively, 130 cm 3 (7-413 cm3), 280 cm3 and 360 cm3. The mean consensus volume computed using the STAPLE algorithm at 95% confidence interval was 188 cm3 (24-565 cm3) with a substantial overall agreement corrected for chance (mean kappa = 0.71; range: 0.32-0.87). The minimum, maximum, and mean volume of SE (excluding the GTV) were 4, 182, and 58 cm3 (representing a median of 29% of the GTV volume). The median volume of SE not included in the CTV2cm and in the CTV3cm was 5 and 0.3 cm 3, respectively. There were 3 large tumors with >30 cm3 of SE not included in the CTV3cm volume. Conclusion: Despite the fact that SE would empirically seem to be a more subjective volume, a substantial or near-perfect interobserver agreement was observed in SE delineation in most cases with high-grade soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremity. A median of 97% of the consensus SE is within the CTV2cm (99.8% within the CTV3cm). In a minority of cases, however, significant expansion of the CTVs is required to cover SE.
AB - Purpose: Peritumoral edema may harbor sarcoma cells. The extent of suspicious edema (SE) included in the treatment volume is subject to clinical judgment, balancing the risk of missing tumor cells with excess toxicity. Our goal was to determine variability in SE delineation by sarcoma radiation oncologists (RO). Methods and Materials: Twelve expert ROs were provided with T1 gadolinium and T2-weighted MR images of 10 patients with high-grade extremity soft-tissue sarcoma. Gross tumor volume, clinical target volume (CTV)3cm (3 cm longitudinal and 1.5 cm radial margin), and CTV2cm (2 cm longitudinal and 1 cm radial margin) were contoured by a single observer. Suspicious peritumoral edema, defined as abnormal signal on T2 images, was independently delineated by all 12 ROs. Contouring agreement was analyzed using the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm and kappa statistics. Results: The mean volumes of GTV, CTV2cm, and CTV3cm were, respectively, 130 cm 3 (7-413 cm3), 280 cm3 and 360 cm3. The mean consensus volume computed using the STAPLE algorithm at 95% confidence interval was 188 cm3 (24-565 cm3) with a substantial overall agreement corrected for chance (mean kappa = 0.71; range: 0.32-0.87). The minimum, maximum, and mean volume of SE (excluding the GTV) were 4, 182, and 58 cm3 (representing a median of 29% of the GTV volume). The median volume of SE not included in the CTV2cm and in the CTV3cm was 5 and 0.3 cm 3, respectively. There were 3 large tumors with >30 cm3 of SE not included in the CTV3cm volume. Conclusion: Despite the fact that SE would empirically seem to be a more subjective volume, a substantial or near-perfect interobserver agreement was observed in SE delineation in most cases with high-grade soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremity. A median of 97% of the consensus SE is within the CTV2cm (99.8% within the CTV3cm). In a minority of cases, however, significant expansion of the CTVs is required to cover SE.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877577546&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.01.032
DO - 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.01.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 23474110
AN - SCOPUS:84877577546
SN - 0360-3016
VL - 86
SP - 298
EP - 303
JO - International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
JF - International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
IS - 2
ER -