Program Information
Structure Naming Standardization Tool
W Sleeman IV*, P Kapoor , B Curran , J Palta , R Kapoor , Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, VA
Presentations
SU-I-GPD-J-51 (Sunday, July 30, 2017) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: The lack of standardized nomenclature applied to targets and normal tissue structures has introduced challenges for quality and safety efforts and aggregating data for outcome research, clinical trials and population based registries. To address this problem, AAPM formed task group 263 to define a standard nomenclature for anatomical, target and planning structures. A software package was developed to facilitate the implementation of TG263 standardized structure nomenclatures in a commercial treatment planning system.
Methods: Frequent structure names used in the clinic were counted to determine which ones were most common for prostate patients. By combining these results with physician input, a list of TG263-suggested structure names was compiled. Pinnacle³(Royal Philips, Netherlands) includes a scripting system that allows for automation of manual planning tasks. A Pinnacle³ script was written that creates a list of empty structures with the specified structure names ready to be contoured. To support custom groups of structures, a graphical interface was also developed to allow the user to choose from any of the TG263 specified names to create a patient specific structure list for any disease site. This new list of structures can then be loaded back into Pinnacle³ for planning.
Results: A system to automate and standardize structure naming has been successfully deployed in the clinic. The software added value by introducing the ability to develop automated solutions for data extraction, dosimetry plan evaluation scripts and QA to improve clinical workflow, quality and safety.
Conclusion: Using these scripts can save time and provides a consistent nomenclature that will streamline clinical and research work flows. We are working on developing similar scripts to standardize treatment plan names, toxicities, treatment course names and prescription elements.
Contact Email: