Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives

Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Radiofísica e Instrumentación Nuclear en Medicina (IRIMED), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (IIS-La Fe), Universitat de Valencia (UV), 46010 Valencia, Spain

Radiotherapy Department, La Fe Hospital, 46026 Valencia, Spain

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Medical Physics Department, Hospital San Juan, 03550 Alicante, Spain

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Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain

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Instituto de Física Corpuscular, IFIC (UV-CSIC), 46010 Valencia, Spain

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Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Universitario de Navarra, 31008 Navarre, Spain

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Radiotherapy Department, Hospital Clínica Benidorm, 03501 Alicante, Spain

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Ángeles Rovirosa, Meritxell Arenas and Luca Tagliaferri

Cancers 2022, 14(14), 3467; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143467

Received: 27 May 2022 / Revised: 10 July 2022 / Accepted: 14 July 2022 / Published: 17 July 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interventional Radiotherapy in Gynecological Cancer)

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Simple Summary

There are no brachytherapy treatment planning systems (TPS) exclusively for the treatment of cervical tumours, so general-purpose TPSs are used. However, these treatments have some particular features concerning the treatment of other pathologies, especially in the case of exclusive use of MRI as an imaging modality and the presence of gynaecological applicators in combination with an interstitial part. That is why it is essential to review the latest versions of commercial TPSs to find the potential features to improve with the help of a group of experimented medical physicists and radiation oncologists. Furthermore, after reviewing the recent literature for advances applicable to cervical brachytherapy and through his own clinical experience, possible improvements are proposed to software providers for the development of new tools.

Abstract

Intracavitary brachytherapy (BT, Interventional Radiotherapy, IRT), plays an essential role in the curative intent of locally advanced cervical cancer, for which the conventional approach involves external beam radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy followed by BT. This work aims to review the different methodologies used by commercially available treatment planning systems (TPSs) in exclusive magnetic resonance imaging-based (MRI) cervix BT with interstitial component treatments. Practical aspects and improvements to be implemented into the TPSs are discussed. This review is based on the clinical expertise of a group of radiation oncologists and medical physicists and on interactive demos provided by the software manufacturers. The TPS versions considered include all the new tools currently in development for future commercial releases. The specialists from the supplier companies were asked to propose solutions to some of the challenges often encountered in a clinical environment through a questionnaire. The results include not only such answers but also comments by the authors that, in their opinion, could help solve the challenges covered in these questions. This study summarizes the possibilities offered nowadays by commercial TPSs, highlighting the absence of some useful tools that would notably improve the planning of MR-based interstitial component cervix brachytherapy. View Full-Text

Keywords: cervix; treatment planning systems; interstitial applicators; magnetic resonance

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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MDPI and ACS Style

Otal, A.; Celada, F.; Chimeno, J.; Vijande, J.; Pellejero, S.; Perez-Calatayud, M.-J.; Villafranca, E.; Fuentemilla, N.; Blazquez, F.; Rodriguez, S.; Perez-Calatayud, J. Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives. Cancers 2022, 14, 3467. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143467

AMA Style

Otal A, Celada F, Chimeno J, Vijande J, Pellejero S, Perez-Calatayud M-J, Villafranca E, Fuentemilla N, Blazquez F, Rodriguez S, Perez-Calatayud J. Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives. Cancers. 2022; 14(14):3467. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143467

Chicago/Turabian Style

Otal, Antonio, Francisco Celada, Jose Chimeno, Javier Vijande, Santiago Pellejero, Maria-Jose Perez-Calatayud, Elena Villafranca, Naiara Fuentemilla, Francisco Blazquez, Silvia Rodriguez, and Jose Perez-Calatayud. 2022. "Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives" Cancers 14, no. 14: 3467. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143467

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Review on Treatment Planning Systems for Cervix Brachytherapy (Interventional Radiotherapy): Some Desirable and Convenient Practical Aspects to Be Implemented from Radiation Oncologist and Medical Physics Perspectives

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