Physical and psychosocial support requirements of 1,500 patients starting radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The need for psychosocial support in cancer patients is estimated in the literature at 14-50 %. At the Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, approximately 3,000 patients are seen annually. Due to limited staff resources, highly distressed patients need to be selected for focused support. A multidisciplinary screening questionnaire covering physical, social and psychological problems and needs was successfully implemented in clinical routine. We present the results of a representative sample of 1,500 heterogeneous cancer patients before beginning radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The prevalence rates of physical, social and psychological problems and needs were evaluated. Independent risk factors for critical psychological distress were analyzed in a multivariate logistic regression model, in order to identify vulnerable subgroups for focused psychosocial support. RESULTS: Critical psychological distress was found in 22 % of the overall cohort, of whom only 26 % reported a need for psychological information. Clinically relevant pain was suffered by 31 %. Patients' most frequent complaints were weakness, sleeping difficulties and exhaustion. Consequently, 40 % were impaired in activities and 35 % reported a requirement for support in daily life. A need for further information was expressed by 37 % of patients. Significant risk factors for critical psychological distress included pain, functional status, support requirements and patient-reported symptoms. Differences in tumor type, metastases and sociodemographic variables had no impact on critical psychological distress. CONCLUSION: Approximately one third of all patients beginning radiotherapy have physical, social and psychological problems and should receive focused psychosocial support. Multivariate analysis reveals that patients with impaired "physical integrity" are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing critical psychological distress.

Can treatment of pediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma be improved by PET imaging and proton therapy?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To explore a new positron emission tomography (PET)-based target concept for pediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma (PHL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: For 10 patients, the planning target volume PTV1 was based on initial CT tumor extension and PTV2 on anatomy-related PET-positive lymph node levels after chemotherapy. The treatment techniques investigated (prescribed dose 19.8 Gy) comprised opposed-field (2F), intensity-modulated photon (IMXT), and single-field (PS) proton techniques. Treatment concepts were compared concerning dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters and organ-equivalent doses (OED). RESULTS: The median PTV1 and PTV2 were 902 ± 555 cm(3) and 281 ± 228 cm(3). When using PTV2 instead of PTV1 for all techniques, the D(2%) of the heart was reduced from 14 to 9 Gy and the D(mean) of the thyroid from 16.6 to 2.7 Gy. Low- (20%), median- (50%), and high-dose volumes (80%) were reduced by 60% for the heart and bones using PTV2. PS reduced the high-dose volume of the lungs and the heart by up to 60%. IMXT increased the low-dose volumes and OED. PTV2 reduced OED by 54 ± 10% for all organs at risk. CONCLUSION: PTV2 has a high impact on the treated volume and on sparing of organs at risk. The combination of an adaptive target volume definition with protons could contribute to future PHL treatment concepts.

Critical discussion of evaluation parameters for inter-observer variability in target definition for radiation therapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Inter-observer studies represent a valid method for the evaluation of target definition uncertainties and contouring guidelines. However, data from the literature do not yet give clear guidelines for reporting contouring variability. Thus, the purpose of this work was to compare and discuss various methods to determine variability on the basis of clinical cases and a literature review. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 7 prostate and 8 lung cases were contoured on CT images by 8 experienced observers. Analysis of variability included descriptive statistics, calculation of overlap measures, and statistical measures of agreement. Cross tables with ratios and correlations were established for overlap parameters. RESULTS: It was shown that the minimal set of parameters to be reported should include at least one of three volume overlap measures (i.e., generalized conformity index, Jaccard coefficient, or conformation number). High correlation between these parameters and scatter of the results was observed. CONCLUSION: A combination of descriptive statistics, overlap measure, and statistical measure of agreement or reliability analysis is required to fully report the interrater variability in delineation.

Multicenter evaluation of different target volume delineation concepts in pediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma. A case study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In pediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma (PHL) improvements in imaging and multiagent chemotherapy have allowed for a reduction in target volume. The involved-node (IN) concept is being tested in several treatment regimens for adult Hodgkin's lymphoma. So far there is no consensus on the definition of the IN. To improve the reproducibility of the IN, we tested a new involved-node-level (INL) concept, using defined anatomical boundaries as basis for target delineation. The aim was to evaluate the feasibility of IN and INL concepts for PHL in terms of interobserver variability. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The INL concept was defined for the neck and mediastinum by the PHL Radiotherapy Group based on accepted concepts for solid tumors. Seven radiation oncologists from six European centers contoured neck and mediastinal clinical target volumes (CTVs) of 2 patients according to the IN and the new INL concepts. The median CTVs, coefficient of variation (COV), and general conformity index (CI) were assessed. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for reliability of delineations was calculated. RESULTS: All observers agreed that INL is a feasible and practicable delineation concept resulting in stronger interobserver concordance than the IN (mediastinum CI(INL) = 0.39 vs. CI(IN) = 0.28, neck left CI(INL) = 0.33; CI(IN) = 0.18; neck right CI(INL) = 0.24, CI(IN) = 0.14). The COV showed less dispersion and the ICC indicated higher reliability of contouring for INL (ICC(INL) = 0.62, p < 0.05) as for IN (ICC(IN) = 0.40, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: INL is a practical and feasible alternative to IN resulting in more homogeneous target delineation, and it should be therefore considered as a future target volume concept in PHL.

The course of quality of life and neurocognition in newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: The importance of QoL and neurocognitive functions in patients with glioblastoma (GB) is above controversy by now. We followed newly diagnosed GB patients treated with radio-chemotherapy during their course of disease by continuously evaluating their quality of life (QoL) and cognitive functions. METHODS: We included consecutive patients with newly diagnosed GB from 2010 to 2013 at the Medical University of Vienna. To assess QoL the EORTC QLQ C30 and BN20 questionnaire were used. Neurocognition was measured with the NeuroCog FX. The evaluations were done 6 times every three months, beginning at the beginning of radio-chemotherapy. RESULTS: 42 patients participated in this study. We also recorded QoL and neurocognition in 23 patients after the first disease progression. Patients maintained their cognitive summary score until relapse. Patients with left-sided tumors showed significant lower scores in the subscale verbal fluency than patients with right-sided tumors. The global health score of QoL decreased after the fifth evaluation (13months after diagnosis) whereas a peak of fatigue symptoms was obtained at the third evaluation. Furthermore, fatigue symptoms increased strongly 7months after diagnosis and patients' financial difficulties were mentioned more frequently by younger patients and in patients with lower education levels. CONCLUSIONS: QoL and cognitive long-term assessments are feasible also in some patients with GB after a symptomatic progression. Our study demonstrates maintenance of QoL and cognitive summary scales before tumor progression. Moreover, it highlights subgroups according to tumor location and socioeconomic factors.

Performance validation of deformable image registration in the pelvic region.

Patients undergoing radiotherapy will inevitably show anatomical changes during the course of treatment. These can be weight loss, tumour shrinkage, and organ motion or filling changes. For advanced and adaptive radiotherapy (ART) information about anatomical changes must be extracted from repeated images in order to be able to evaluate and manage these changes. Deformable image registration (DIR) is a tool that can be used to efficiently gather information about anatomical changes. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of two DIR methods for automatic organ at risk (OAR) contour propagation. Datasets from ten gynaecological patients having repeated computed tomography (CT) and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans were collected. Contours were delineated on the planning CT and on every repeated scan by an expert clinician. DIR using our in-house developed featurelet-based method and the iPlan(®) BrainLab treatment planning system software was performed with the planning CT as reference and a selection of repeated scans as the target dataset. The planning CT contours were deformed using the resulting deformation fields and compared to the manually defined contours. Dice's similarity coefficients (DSCs) were calculated for each fractional patient scan structure, comparing the volume overlap using DIR with that using rigid registration only. No significant improvement in volume overlap was found after DIR as compared with rigid registration, independent of which image modality or DIR method was used. DIR needs to be further improved in order to facilitate contour propagation in the pelvic region in ART approaches.