Highlights
- •DRLs can help the imaging related to treatment planning in radiation oncology.
- •The intention is to propose RPRLs and compare these values with published data.
- •Results show variations in CT planning which call for optimization of procedures.
Abstract
Objective
To present results of the first national survey on reference levels of CT imaging
performed for the treatment planning purposes in radiation oncology in Croatia.
Methods
Data for CT protocols of five anatomical regions including head, head and neck, pelvis,
breast, and thorax were collected at eight radiation oncology departments in Croatia.
Data included volume CT dose index (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), scan length and set of acquisition and reconstruction
parameters. Data on a total of 600 patients were collected. Median values of scan
length, DLP and CTDIvol were calculated for each acquisition protocol. Third quartiles of the median CTDIvol and DLP values were proposed as the national radiotherapy planning reference levels
(RPRL).
Results
The largest CoV were assessed for RT Breast (63.8% for CTDIvol), RT Thorax (79.7% for DLP) and RT H&N (21.2% for scan length). RT Head had the lowest
CoV for CTDIvol (1,9%) and DLP (17,2%), while RT Breast had the lowest coefficient of variation for
scan length (12.8%). Proposed national RPRLs are: for RT Head CTDIvol16cm = 62 mGy and DLP16cm = 1738 mGy.cm; for RT H&N CTDIvol16cm = 35 mGy and DLP16cm = 1444 mGy.cm; for RT Breast CTDIvol32cm = 16 mGy and DLP32cm = 731 mGy.cm; for RT Thorax CTDIvol32cm = 17 mGy and DLP32cm = 865 mGy.cm; for RT Pelvis CTDIvol32cm = 20 mGy and DLP32cm = 1133 mGy.cm.
Conclusions
Results of this study show variations in CT imaging for treatment planning practice
at the national level which call for optimization of procedures.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 14, 2022
Accepted:
March 2,
2022
Received in revised form:
February 16,
2022
Received:
September 19,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica e Sanitaria. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
