Evaluation of a Dedicated Software "Elements™ Spine SRS, Brainlab®" for Target Volume Definition in the Treatment of Spinal Bone Metastases With Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy

Maximilien Rogé; Ahmed Hadj Henni; Yasmine Adda Neggaz; Romain Mallet; Chantal Hanzen; Bernard Dubray; Elyse Colard; David Gensanne; Sébastien Thureau

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.827195

Evaluation of a Dedicated Software "Elements™ Spine SRS, Brainlab^®" for Target Volume Definition in the Treatment of Spinal Bone Metastases With Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy

Front Oncol. 2022 May 12:12:827195. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.827195. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Maximilien Rogé¹, Ahmed Hadj Henni¹, Yasmine Adda Neggaz¹, Romain Mallet¹, Chantal Hanzen¹, Bernard Dubray^{1

2}, Elyse Colard¹, David Gensanne^{1

2}, Sébastien Thureau^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Départment of Radiation Oncology, Centre Henri Becquerel, Rouen, France.
² QuantIF-LITIS EA4108, University of Rouen, Rouen, France.

Abstract

Introduction: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a treatment option for spine metastases. The International Spine Radiosurgery Consortium (ISRC) has published consensus guidelines for target delineation in spine SBRT. A new software called Elements™ Spine SRS by Brainlab^® that includes the module Elements SmartBrush Spine (v3.0, Munich, Germany) has been developed specifically for SBRT treatment of spine metastases, and the latter provides the ability to perform semiautomatic clinical target volume (CTV) generation based on gross tumor volume (GTV) localization and guidelines. The aims of our study were to evaluate this software by studying differences in volumes between semiautomatic CTV contours compared to manual contouring performed by an expert radiation oncologist and to determine the dosimetric impact of these differences on treatment plans.

Methods: A total of 35 volumes ("Expert GTV" and "Expert CTV") from 30 patients were defined by a single expert. A semiautomatic definition of these 35 CTVs based on the location of "Expert GTV" and following ISRC guidelines was also performed in Elements SmartBrush Spine ("Brainlab CTV"). The spatial overlap between "Brainlab" and "Expert" CTVs was calculated using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). We considered a threshold of 0.80 or above to indicate that Elements SmartBrush Spine performed very well with adequate contours for clinical use. Two dosimetric treatment plans, each corresponding to a specific planning target volume (PTV; Expert PTV, Brainlab PTV), were created for 11 patients.

Results: We showed that "Brainlab CTV" and "Expert CTV" mean volumes were 29.8 ± 16.1 and 28.7 ± 15.7 cm³, respectively (p = 0.23). We also showed that the mean DSC for semiautomatic contouring relative to expert manual contouring was 0.85 ± 0.08 and less than 0.80 in five cases. For metastases involving the vertebral body only (n = 13,37%), the mean DSC was 0.90 ± 0.03, and for ones involving other or several vertebral regions (n = 22.63%), the mean DSC was 0.81 ± 0.08 (p < 0.001). The comparison of dosimetric treatment plans was performed for equivalent PTV coverage. There were no differences between doses received by organs at risk (spinal cord and esophagus) for Expert and Brainlab PTVs, respectively.

Conclusion: The results showed that the semiautomatic method had quite good accuracy and can be used in clinical routine even for complex lesions.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI); clinical target volume; software; spinal metastases; stereotactic body radiotherapy.