Interobserver variability of clinical target volume delineation in supra-diaphragmatic Hodgkin’s disease

Abstract

This significant variability confirms the need to apply specific guidelines to improve contouring uniformity in Hodgkin's lymphoma.

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

“…Inter-observer studies are necessary in order to quantify delineation uncertainties within an institutional contouring protocol or clinical trial, to validate delineation guidelines, and to evaluate automatic segmentation tools or new image modalities for analysis of tumor behavior [1,6,8,9,35,46].…”

Delineation of the larynx as organ at risk in radiotherapy: a contouring course within “Rete Oncologica Piemonte-Valle d’Aosta” network to reduce inter- and intraobserver variability

“…A variety of methods have been proposed to quantify interobserver variability in radiotherapy contouring, especially in target definition [18]. Some studies evaluated the variability in target volume delineation using descriptive statistics and parameters describing the distribution of volumes and diameters, such as mean, standard deviation, range, and dispersion of the distribution, such as COV [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. The majority of studies deal with approaches that describe the overlapping area between contoured volumes, using metrics, such as CI and DC [22][23][24][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”

Electronic portal imaging registration in breast cancer radiotherapy verification: Analysis of inter-observer agreement among different categories of health practitioners

“…Despite the lack of specific studies focused on the agreement among radiation oncologists and therapists in EPI-based set-up quality evaluation, in several departments this task is entrusted to trained radiation therapists [14,20,21]. Interrater variability is a well-known issue in radiation therapy that affect both the treatment planning and the patient setup verification phases [1]. Wide variability in set-up quality reviews performed by physicians has been reported and related to observer's training and experience [5,22,23].…”

“…Electronic portal imaging (EPI) represents a gold standard for patient set-up verification in breast cancer radiotherapy [1,2]. It has also gained increasingly importance for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) dose verification, both pretreatment and in vivo [3], as well as for motion tracking (EPI acquired in cine mode) [4].…”