The TES algorithm achieves these two goals with a minimum of operator assistance. In our experience, the algorithm greatly reduces the time necessary to arrive at an acceptable CTV. The initialization of the algorithm and generation of a smooth and symmetric 3D surface, which is tedious to accomplish by hand, requires less than a minute by a radiation therapist. Once this (the Raw TES) CTV is complete, only 2–4 min of review and modification are required by the RO to

arrive at what we have described selleck chemicals as the RO-reviewed TES CTV, which is currently used for planning. The results of this study suggest that many of the modifications to the Raw TES PTVs before planning are superfluous, in the sense that the impact of not performing the modifications will result in a planned dose distribution not dissimilar in quality to that which would have been delivered if the patient had been treated by

a colleague. On the basis of this finding, we conclude selleck screening library that the proposed TES algorithm is a suitable replacement for manual prostate segmentation in a preplanned treatment methodology. We would like to thank Drs. Mira Keyes, Michael McKenzie, and Tom Pickles for contouring and their insightful feedback and support; Drs. Juanita Crook, Amy Hayden, Caroline Holloway, Winkle Kwan, Mitchell Liu, Howard Pai, and David Petrik for providing manual contours; the therapists and staff at Vancouver Cancer Center; and Dr. Orcun Goksel for supplying the code for some method evaluation steps. Financial support from the Prostate Cancer Foundation BC (PCFBC) is gratefully acknowledged. selleckchem This work was partially supported by NSERC and CIHR. “
“The patient is a physically fit 57-year-old gentleman who had been diagnosed with a rectal cancer 3 years before presentation, for which he underwent a low anterior resection showing a pT3N0 tumor with negative margins but extramural venous invasion. The patient underwent adjuvant capecitabine chemotherapy plus pelvic radiation of 45 Gy in 1.8 Gy fractions followed by a rectal boost to a total dose of 50.4 Gy, all of which was

completed 2.5 years before the presentation. Eighteen months before the presentation, his routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 2.6 ng/mL, but 8 months before the presentation, it rose to 8.5 ng/mL, which prompted an ultrasound-guided biopsy that was negative. PSA continued to rise to 12.6 ng/mL at 4 months before presentation, prompting a second biopsy that revealed Gleason 4 + 4 = 8 prostate cancer in 1 of 12 cores. Digital rectal examination was negative. A 3-Tesla endorectal coil MRI revealed a 25 cc prostate with intermediate T2 signal, restricted diffusion, and early enhancement at the left base consistent with prostate cancer with extracapsular extension. The left seminal vesicle was thickened but not definitely involved. In addition, in the anterior gland from mid to apex, there was a 1.9 × 1.