Involving radiologists in the planning process for radiation therapy resulted in a higher rate of major changes to the plan — supporting the value of including the radiology department at the planning stage, a recent study found.
The study, published Dec. 27 in JAMA Network Open, screened 4,185 studies across PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science up to March 6, 2024. Researchers looked for keywords associated with radiotherapy planning with or without radiology involvement.
Radiotherapy plan quality is a predictive factor for cancer recurrence and survival outcomes. Adding radiologists to the peer review process can increase radiotherapy plan quality, the study authors wrote.
Here are four study findings:
- Radiologist participation in the review process was associated with higher rates of plan change (49.4% vs. 25%), and clinically relevant major changes (47% vs. 10.2%).
- The highest rates of plan changes were seen in head and neck, or lung cancer studies, studies performing peer review before radiotherapy planning and prospective studies.
- The greatest rate of changes was in gross tumor and planned target volumes with radiology-based peer review.
- There was no difference in minor changes.
"These results support the value of interdisciplinary collaboration with radiology during radiation therapy planning," the study authors wrote.