Automated Contouring and Planning in Radiation Therapy: What Is 'Clinically Acceptable'?

Hana Baroudi; Kristy K Brock; Wenhua Cao; Xinru Chen; Caroline Chung; Laurence E Court; Mohammad D El Basha; Maguy Farhat; Skylar Gay; Mary P Gronberg; Aashish Chandra Gupta; Soleil Hernandez; Kai Huang; David A Jaffray; Rebecca Lim; Barbara Marquez; Kelly Nealon; Tucker J Netherton; Callistus M Nguyen; Brandon Reber; Dong Joo Rhee; Ramon M Salazar; Mihir D Shanker; Carlos Sjogreen; McKell Woodland; Jinzhong Yang; Cenji Yu; Yao Zhao

doi:10.3390/diagnostics13040667

Automated Contouring and Planning in Radiation Therapy: What Is 'Clinically Acceptable'?

Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Feb 10;13(4):667. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13040667.

Authors

Hana Baroudi^{1

2}, Kristy K Brock^{1

3}, Wenhua Cao¹, Xinru Chen^{1

2}, Caroline Chung⁴, Laurence E Court¹, Mohammad D El Basha^{1

2}, Maguy Farhat⁴, Skylar Gay^{1

2}, Mary P Gronberg^{1

2}, Aashish Chandra Gupta^{1

2

3}, Soleil Hernandez^{1

2}, Kai Huang^{1

2}, David A Jaffray^{1

3}, Rebecca Lim^{1

2}, Barbara Marquez^{1

2}, Kelly Nealon^{1

2}, Tucker J Netherton¹, Callistus M Nguyen³, Brandon Reber^{2

3}, Dong Joo Rhee¹, Ramon M Salazar¹, Mihir D Shanker^{5

6}, Carlos Sjogreen⁷, McKell Woodland^{3

8}, Jinzhong Yang¹, Cenji Yu^{1

2}, Yao Zhao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
² The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
³ Department of Imaging Physics, Department of Radiation Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁵ The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, Australia.
⁶ The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA.
⁸ Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.

Abstract

Developers and users of artificial-intelligence-based tools for automatic contouring and treatment planning in radiotherapy are expected to assess clinical acceptability of these tools. However, what is 'clinical acceptability'? Quantitative and qualitative approaches have been used to assess this ill-defined concept, all of which have advantages and disadvantages or limitations. The approach chosen may depend on the goal of the study as well as on available resources. In this paper, we discuss various aspects of 'clinical acceptability' and how they can move us toward a standard for defining clinical acceptability of new autocontouring and planning tools.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; quality assurance; radiotherapy treatment planning.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.