Learning Together - Bilateral Breast Plan Study Now Open for Submissions
Announcement of New Public Plan Study
The University of Calgary (Alberta, CAN) has designed a very interesting bilateral breast plan study which is now launched as a public plan study open for worldwide participation. You can sign in to ProKnow and find it by selecting the Plan Studies menu and then Select Organization: University of Calgary.
This study is unique in that it is more a collection and study of methods used rather than a “competition.” Anybody and everybody is encouraged to participate so that we may all learn the techniques used around the world for this type of treatment.
Background & Learning
Synchronous bilateral breast cancer accounts for approximately 2% of all breast cancer diagnoses, making this patient population difficult to build expert knowledge for radiation therapy planning expectations. For these patients, the target volumes can include regional nodes, which may or may not include the internal mammary lymph nodes. The complexity of these target volumes in radiation therapy planning makes it a challenge for radiotherapy staff to confidently know the optimal planning strategy to achieve these aims. This is best understood by reading this survey.
This study aims to understand the differences in achievable dosimetry across a wide range of clinical practice and treatment techniques. Following the study accrual, the study authors will report our conclusions in a presentation format on the ProKnow website, present an abstract summarizing these results at the AAPM/COMP Annual Scientific Meeting in 2020, and publish a peer-reviewed article on the benefits of multi-institutional planning studies.
Specific Goals of this Study
- Assess variation in target coverage and organ-at-risk dosimetry
- Identify trends in different planning techniques (VMAT, 3DCRT, photon + electron fields, protons, etc.) towards effectively planning synchronous bilateral breast cancer patients
- Make recommendations to the community based on study findings
Who should participate?
The entire ProKnow community is encouraged to participate in this study. All planning systems and delivery modalities will be evaluated!
Schedule
The study is open for submissions until Friday, December 13, 2019. Populations results will be turned on soon after that, and redo and practice will be left open continually (as it is for all ProKnow public plan studies).