Implementation of online workshops on image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (interventional radiotherapy) in locally advanced cervical cancer: Experience of BrachyAcademy

PURPOSE: To provide educational support to brachytherapy users during the COVID-19 pandemic, online workshops were developed and implemented by BrachyAcademy, non-profit peer-to-peer educational initiative in Elekta.
METHODS AND MATERIALS: In 2021–2022 two online workshops were organized. Participating teams had to send a clinical case of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) including
brachytherapy Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files and questions to
the faculty. During the workshop, feedback was given to each clinical case by five faculty members (two Radiation Oncologists, one Radiologist, two Medical Physicists). Participants competed
a post-workshop questionnaire which included combination of qualitative and quantitative questions via yes/no responses, Likert scale, and 1 to 10 scale.
RESULTS: Twenty-one teams from eight countries (Europe, Asia, Latin America) participated
in two online workshops. The total number of participants was 49. The clinical cases represented
LACC with The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages from IB3
to IVA. During both, Workshop1 (W1) and Workshop 2 (W2) the following areas of improvement
were identified: familiarity with the GEC ESTRO and The International Commission on Radiation
Units & Measurements, Report 89 (ICRU 89) recommendations for contouring and planning based
on clinical drawings and MRI sequencing choice; appropriate applicator selection; experience with
interstitial needles; appropriate applicator reconstruction; dose optimization. The participants rated
both workshops with overall scores 8,3 for W1, and 8,5 for W2. In 82% participants the training
course fully met expectations for W1, and in 76% in W2.
CONCLUSIONS: We successfully implemented the online workshops on image-guided adaptive
brachytherapy (IGABT) in LACC. Main performance issues and areas for improvement were
identified based on multidisciplinary discussion of participant’s clinical cases through all steps
of the brachytherapy procedure. We encourage teams to consider online workshops in addition
to hands-on training. © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Brachytherapy Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licens