Hands-on seminar for image-guided adaptive brachytherapy and intracavitary/interstitial brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer

Naoya Murakami; Koji Masui; Ken Yoshida; Shin-Ei Noda; Miho Watanabe; Tadashi Takenaka; Noriko Ii; Kazushige Atsumi; Rei Umezawa; Koji Inaba; Kotaro Iijima; Akiko Kubo; Hiroshi Igaki; Naoto Shikama; Hitoshi Ikushima

doi:10.1093/jjco/hyad012

Hands-on seminar for image-guided adaptive brachytherapy and intracavitary/interstitial brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer

Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2023 Jun 1;53(6):508-513. doi: 10.1093/jjco/hyad012.

Authors

Naoya Murakami^{1

2}, Koji Masui³, Ken Yoshida⁴, Shin-Ei Noda⁵, Miho Watanabe⁶, Tadashi Takenaka³, Noriko Ii⁷, Kazushige Atsumi⁸, Rei Umezawa⁹, Koji Inaba², Kotaro Iijima¹⁰, Akiko Kubo¹¹, Hiroshi Igaki², Naoto Shikama¹, Hitoshi Ikushima¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Juntendo University, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
² Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Radiology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Kansai Medical University Medical Center, Osaka, Japan.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Saitama Medical University International Medical Center, Saitama, Japan.
⁶ Diagnostic Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, Ise Red Cross Hospital, Mie, Japan.
⁸ Division of Medical Quantum Science, Department of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
⁹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Miyagi, Japan.
¹⁰ Radiation Safety and Quality Assurance Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Radiology, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
¹² Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.

PMID: 36810684
DOI: 10.1093/jjco/hyad012

Abstract

Objective: Compared with the implementation speed of image-guided adaptive brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer, that of intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy is slow, possible because it requires more invasive procedure of inserting needles directly into tumours. To accelerate the implementation speed of intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy, a first hands-on seminar for image-guided adaptive brachytherapy and intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy for uterine cervical cancer was held on 26 November 2022, supported by Japanese Society for Radiology and Oncology. This article deals with this hands-on seminar and difference of degree of confidence of participants in starting intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy before and after the seminar.

Methods: The seminar consisted of lectures regarding intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy in the morning and hands-on practice of needle insertion and contouring, as well as dose calculation practice using the radiation treatment system in the evening. Prior to and following the seminar, participants completed a questionnaire asking about their level of confidence in performing intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy, expressed between 0 and 10 (the higher the number, the stronger the confidence).

Results: A total of 15 physicians, six medical physicists and eight radiation technologists from 11 institutions attended the meeting. The median level of confidence before and after the seminar was 3 (range, 0-6) and 5.5 (range, 3-7), respectively, and a statistically significant improvement was observed (P<0.001).

Conclusion: It was suggested that the hands-on seminar on intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy for locally advanced uterine cervical cancer improved the level of confidence of the attendees and propelled their motivation, through which it is expected that the implementation of intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy will be accelerated.

Keywords: cervical cancer; hands-on seminar; intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy (IC/IS).

MeSH terms

Brachytherapy* / methods
Female
Humans
Radiotherapy Dosage
Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / methods
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms* / pathology

Grants and funding

Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology