Open AccessAssessment of consistency in contouring of normal‐tissue anatomic structures
Author(s) -
Collier Dawn C.,
Burnett Stuart S. C.,
Amin Mayankkumar,
Bilton Stephen,
Brooks Christopher,
Ryan Amanda,
Roniger Dominique,
Tran Danny,
Starkschall George
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied clinical medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.83
H-Index - 48
ISSN - 1526-9914
DOI - 10.1120/jacmp.v4i1.2538
Subject(s) - contouring , consistency (knowledge bases) , esophagus , medicine , nuclear medicine , mathematics , anatomy , computer science , geometry , computer graphics (images)
The purpose of this work is to estimate the uncertainty in the manual contouring of normal anatomical structures. The heart, esophagus, and spinal cord were contoured manually on six sets of computed tomography images by six dosimetrists whose experience ranged from 1 year to over 15 years. To determine the differences between inter‐ and intraobserver variations, each data set was contoured by one of the dosimetrists five times and once each by the five other dosimetrists. The magnitude of the discrepancies in delineating the contours was assessed. Intradosimetrist contouring discrepancies were as follows: esophagus, average 0.3 cm and maximum 2.9 cm; heart, average 0.5 cm and maximum 7.6 cm; and spinal cord, average 0.1 cm and maximum 0.7 cm. Interdosimetrist contouring discrepancies were as follows: esophagus, average 0.4 cm and maximum 3.1 cm; heart, average 0.7 cm and maximum 8.1 cm; and spinal cord, average 0.2 cm and maximum 0.9 cm. Significant discrepancies can occur when normal anatomic structures are contoured manually. Interdosimetrist discrepancies are typically slightly greater than intradosimetrist discrepancies. The magnitude of the discrepancies does not appear to be correlated to the experience of the dosimetrist. © 2003 American College of Medical Physics . PACS number(s): 87.53.–j, 87.66.–a