Maintaining prostate contouring consistency following an educational intervention

The aim of this study was to assess variation in prostate contouring 12 months following a structured interactive educational intervention (EI) and to test the hypothesis that EIs positively impact on prostate contouring accuracy and consistency long term.

A common set of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data sets were used to assess prostate contouring consistency before, immediately after and 12 months following an EI. No further EIs were provided after the initial EI. Contour variation was assessed using the volume ratio (VR), defined as the ratio of the encompassing volume to common volume.

Of the original five radiation oncologists (ROs) at baseline, four completed all assessments, and one was unavailable at 12 months follow-up. At 12 months, mean VR deteriorated by 3.2% on CT and 1.9% on MRI compared to immediately post EI. Overall, compared to the pre-EI baseline VR, an improvement of 11.4% and 10.8% was demonstrated on CT and MRI, respectively.

Good retention of applied knowledge 12 months following an EI on prostate contouring was demonstrated. This study advocates for EIs to be included as part of continuing medical education to reduce contour variation among ROs and improve knowledge retention long term.