Automatic segmentation software in locally advanced rectal cancer: READY (REsearch program in Auto Delineation sYstem)-RECTAL 02: prospective study

To validate autocontouring software (AS) in a clinical practice including a two steps delineation quality assurance (QA) procedure. The existing delineation agreement among experts for rectal cancer and the overlap and time criteria that have to be verified to allow the use of AS were defined. Median Dice Similarity Coefficient (MDSC), Mean slicewise Hausdorff Distances (MSHD) and Total-Time saving (TT) were analyzed. Two expert Radiation Oncologists reviewed CT-scans of 44 patients and agreed the reference-CTV: the first 14 consecutive cases were used to populate the software Atlas and 30 were used as Test. Each expert performed a manual (group A) and an automatic delineation (group B) of 15 Test patients. The delineations were compared with the reference contours. The overlap between the manual and automatic delineations with MDSC and MSHD and the TT were analyzed. Three acceptance criteria were set: MDSC ≥ 0.75, MSHD ≤1mm and TT sparing ≥ 50%. At least 2 criteria had to be met, one of which had to be TT saving, to validate the system. The MDSC was 0.75, MSHD 2.00 mm and the TT saving 55.5% between group A and group B. MDSC among experts was 0.84. Autosegmentation systems in rectal cancer partially met acceptability criteria with the present version.