Ready for contours.

Radiation treatment planning workflow is a large part of all of our lives, but there’s surprisingly little benchmark data to describe the process. This study analyzes data collected on nearly 10,000 courses of treatment over six years from a web-based tool used to communicate treatment plan statuses among physicians and dosimetry at the large academic department of UAB. Following simulation, the median time it took to have completed contours was 53 hours (or 2-3 days). Following that, the median time from the beginning of treatment planning to plan approval was 73 hours (3 days). The average physician plan volume was 218 per year with 42 revisions. The average dosimetrist churned through 375 new plans per year with an average of 71 revision plans. Plan volume per dosimetrist was highly variable, though, likely representing focuses on specific treatment sites lending themselves to simpler or more complex planning. TBL: This study provides very useful benchmarks for both volume and time of important aspects of the radiation treatment planning process. | Cardan, Med Dosim 2019