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Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic the ESTRO School who provides international non-profit postgraduate education in Radiation Oncology and related disciplines, including Medical Physics and Radiation Technology, had to close down all live educational activities and turn online, although having only limited experience. The paper describes the experience, discusses the limitations and benefits of online education and suggests directions for the future. Materials and methods: Data about format and feedback from attendees and faculty members from the course activities held in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were made available from the ESTRO School. Results: In 2020, all but two out of thirty live courses that happened before the lockdown were canceled. Among the 18 courses scheduled in the second half of the year, seven went online with a short notice. Each course planned their activities quite differently, from compressed courses with consecutive full days online program to courses over several weeks with a few hours online a week. Both numbers of participants and different nationalities were higher than live courses in 2019 for the seven courses happening online, and courses were well evaluated by participants and faculties. Roughly-one-third of participants would prefer online courses in the future. Discussion: Although online education was well received by the majority, pros and cons exist and especially the personal discussions and networking were missed. Online education and live education are not comparable but can complement each other. Careful balancing these activities in the future is important and strategies for online andragogy are needed.
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Delineation of target and 'organ at risk' volumes is a critical part of modern radiation therapy planning, the next essential step after deciding the indication, patient discussion and image acquisition. Adoption of volume-based treatment planning for non-metastatic breast cancer has increased greatly along with the use of improved planning techniques, essential for modern therapy. However, identifying the volumes on a planning CT is no easy task. The current paper is written by ESTRO's breast course faculty, providing tricks and tips for target volume definition and delineation for optimal postoperative breast cancer irradiation.
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Neoplasias de la Mama , Mama , Femenino , Humanos , Planificación de la Radioterapia Asistida por ComputadorRESUMEN
We report the results of 4, 2-h contouring workshops on target volume definition for spinal stereotactic radiotherapy. They combined traditional teaching methods with a web-based contouring/contour-analysis platform and led to a significant reduction in delineation variability. Short, interactive workshops can reduce interobserver variability in spine SBRT target volume delineation.
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Educación Médica Continua/organización & administración , Radiocirugia/educación , Neoplasias de la Columna Vertebral/radioterapia , Competencia Clínica , Instrucción por Computador/métodos , Educación Médica Continua/métodos , Europa (Continente) , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Variaciones Dependientes del Observador , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud , Radiocirugia/normas , Planificación de la Radioterapia Asistida por Computador/métodos , Planificación de la Radioterapia Asistida por Computador/normas , Neoplasias de la Columna Vertebral/diagnóstico por imagen , Neoplasias de la Columna Vertebral/secundario , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos XRESUMEN
Variability in anatomical contouring is one of the important uncertainties in radiotherapy. FALCON (Fellowship in Anatomic deLineation and CONtouring) is an educational ESTRO (European SocieTy for Radiation and Oncology) project devoted to improve interactive teaching, the homogeneity in contouring and to compare individual contours with endorsed guidelines or expert opinions. This report summarizes the experience from the first 4 years using FALCON for educational activities within ESTRO School and presents the perspectives for the future.