Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32999632›Full record

ArticleReports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology

Effectiveness of the No action level protocol for head & neck patients - Time considerations.

Pawel Kukolowicz, Monika Mietelska, Dorota Kiprian

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Reports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Pawel KukolowiczMedical Department Physics Department, Maria Sklodowska - Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, 5 Roentgena Street, 02-81 Warsaw, Poland.
Monika MietelskaBiomedical Physics Division, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, 5 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Dorota KiprianHead and Neck Cancer Department, Maria Sklodowska - Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, 5 Roentgena Street, 02-81 Warsaw, Poland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe No Action Protocol (NAL) was used to diminish the systematic set-up error. Recently, owing to the development of image registration technologies, the on-line positioning control is more often used. This method significantly reduces the CTV-PTV margin at the expense of the lengthening of a treatment session. The efficiency of NAL in decreasing the total treatment time for Head&Neck patients was investigated.

methodsResults of set-up control of 30 patients were analyzed. The set-up control was carried out on-line. For each patient and each fraction, the set-error and the time needed for making the set-up control procedure were measured. Next, retrospectively, the NAL was applied to this data. The number of initial errors (without interventions) and after NAL protocol were compared in terms of errors larger than 3 and 4 mm. The average and total time used for portal control was calculated and compared.

resultsThe number of setup errors in the posterior-anterior, inferior-superior, and right-left directions ≥3 mm and ≥4 mm were 98, 79, and 91 sessions and 44, 38 and 30 sessions out of 884 sessions. After NAL protocol the number of errors ≥3 mm and ≥4 mm decreased to 84, 57, and 39 sessions and 31, 15 and 10 sessions, respectively. The average time needed for one set-up control was 5.1 min. NAL protocol allows saving 4049 min for the whole group.

conclusionsFor locations where the random set-up errors are small, the NAL enables a very precise treatment of patients. Implementation of this protocol significantly decreases the total treatment time.

Indexed as

Head and neckNo action protocolSet-Up controlTreatment time

Identifiers

PMID32999632
PMCPMC7499080

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.