In Slovakia, a digital solution is increasing the efficiency of the planning process for radiation therapy. A new leading-edge technology helps to reduce the average time spent by a radiation oncologist who is planning radiation therapy for patients by at least 30% compared to the current situation. This results in an increased number of patients undergoing radiation therapy treatment and provides a higher quality of care, leading to a higher level of patient satisfaction with the treatment process.
Up to 60% of all patients with cancer in Slovakia must undergo radiation therapy treatment during the course of their disease. In 80–90% of the performed radiotherapeutic treatments, it is necessary to manually perform labour-intensive procedures during CT scans, on the basis of which the clinician develops a treatment plan for the patient. This activity takes 10 to 30 minutes per patient on average, depending on the complexity of the particular case, and makes up one-third to one-half of the workload of the radiation oncologist.
“This activity is very laborious and monotonous, which unnecessarily wastes the human potential of specialists,” says Lukas Palaj, Director of the Department of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence at the Ministry of Health in Slovakia. “Most importantly, it can prolong radiation therapy waiting times for cancer patients.”
Deep learning technology
The software tool uses deep learning technology to provide automatic artificial intelligence-generated images from CT scans for radiation oncologists within seconds. This speeds up the planning process and helps to ensure that radiation therapy planning is optimal, with the least possible impact on the patient's healthy tissue.
Patients referred to radiation therapy for the treatment of their cancer benefit from this new technology by having shorter waiting times and seeing a reduced risk of healthy tissue damage during the course of their radiation therapy treatment. The new tool generates more precise contours of the organs at risk, so they receive no dose or a minimum dose of radiation. This leads to less complications and side effects caused by radiation therapy.
“In just the first 2 months of using this tool, the average time between performing the CT planning and radiation therapy planning has been reduced by almost 2 days, which means patients can start the radiation therapy course faster,” says Professor Pavol Dubinsky MD, Chief Expert on Radiation Therapy at the Ministry of Health in Slovakia.
The implementation of the tool was first piloted in 2020 at the East Slovakia Oncology Institute with the aim of providing equipment that supports the automated process in radiation therapy planning, so that it becomes available to all institutions providing radiation therapy in the country.