The Royal College of Radiologists has opened public consultation for the draft ‘Auto-contouring in Radiotherapy: Guidance for clinicians’.
New guidance from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) aims to explain important principles behind auto-contouring assessment and implementation throughout the process.
The RCR has launched a public consultation on the guidance and has asked for feedback to be submitted through the comment form available on the RCR website.
Auto-contouring refers to a technology that automatically marks structures for radiotherapy planning and may include both target volumes and organs at risk (OARs).
This RCR guidance aims to provide support for implementation of the technology, as operator errors are one of the biggest causes of error.
Improving consistency, quality, and treatment time
Throughout auto-contouring implementation, the healthcare professional approving any auto-contours is ultimately responsible for their clinical use. This is usually a clinical oncologist, the guidance explains, but may also be a delegated professional such as a Therapeutic Radiographer or dosimetrist.
Auto-contouring systems are medical devices which are subject to strict regulatory processes, and the RCR advised that departments should familiarise themselves with the relevant medical device regulation guidance.
As it is becoming available for an increasing number of tumour types, it has the potential to improve consistency and quality of treatment and to reduce the treatment pathway time.
'Rapidly evolving'
However, the RCR warned, at present evidence is limited.
Auto-contouring performance is influenced by how a system is trained and how the system works, the RCR explained.
A spokesperson for the RCR said: “Auto-contouring technology is rapidly evolving, and it’s being increasingly used in clinical practice. There are several stages involved in the pathway of auto-contouring implementation and clinical oncologists may have differing levels of involvement at each of these.”
Visit the RCR website to view the draft guidance. If you would like to submit feedback on this draft, complete the comments form on the RCR website and return it to [email protected].
The public consultation will close at 5pm on Monday 17 June 2024.
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