Head and Neck Cancer Contouring and Plan Evaluation
Open to radiation oncology residents and consultants, as well as medical physicists interested in bettering their anatomy and contouring.
Goal: improve ability to contour accurately, confidently, and critically evaluate structures and plans (coverage, conformality, heterogeneity, gradient, and DVH)
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While directly improving ability to provide high quality care to patients
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Easy to participate and opportunities to ask any questions with passionate experts
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Curriculum Design:
Benjamin Li, MD, MBA
Parag Sanghvi, MD, MSPH
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Supporting Educators: 10
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Sessions: 16
Curriculum Outline
1. Introduction and overview of H&N Contouring, importance, and clinical significance (impact on outcomes, toxicities, and economics)
2. Contouring the GTV (gross tumor volume) – with Radiation Oncologist expert
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If you are going to treat the patient with the intent for cure, make sure that you prescribe the dose correctly! Or else the patient will receive a treatment with no actual benefit and that only causes significant harm and toxicity.
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Resources for CTV expansions
3. Contouring the LN (lymph node) stations – with Radiation Oncologist expert
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Session a – LN I and II, any relevant OARs (organs at risk) and disease site tips
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Session b – LN III and IV, any relevant OARs, and disease site tips
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Session c – LN Va and Vb, any relevant OARs, and disease site tips
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Session d– LN VI and VII, any relevant OARs, and disease site tips
4. Contouring cranial nerves (e.g. for perineural invasion)
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Show atlases
5. Contouring OARs (organs at risk) – with Dosimetrist and Radiation Oncologist
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Explanations for the clinical importance of each OAR
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Review of dose constraints
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Review of supporting literature
6. Plan evaluation – with Dosimetrist and Radiation Oncologist experts
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Session a – Overview of a perfect method for plan evaluation, with an example
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Session b – Practice plan evaluations of participants’ submitted cases
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Session c – More practice plan evaluations of participants’ submitted cases
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Dosimetrists will also provide advice and techniques to participating medical physicists to help achieve planning goals (e.g. in 2D, in 3D-CRT, and in IMRT)
7. Final Evaluation
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Each participant will be given the same standardized case to contour
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They will bring this case to the session, completed beforehand.
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They will receive real-time feedback on each plan during the session! Participants will be asked to provide their commentary before the expert provides his/her own. The expert can show his gold-standard plan.