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RENORT: a project to analyze patterns of care in radiation oncology in Spain

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Abstract

Purpose

RENORT is an application (app) developed to assess the role of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer using the oncology information systems (OIS).

Methods/Patients

The RENORT app was used to analyze the data for all patients seen and/or treated at six radiation oncology departments in Spain in 2019. This app can be used to extract the demographic data, treatment sequence, disease status, and radiotherapy treatments from the ARIA and Mosaiq OIS.

Results

A total of 6564 treatments were performed at these six centers in 2019. Most patients (56.9%) were males (females 43.1%). The mean patient age was 64.9 years. The most common treatment types and sites were as follows: metastases/palliative care (25.9%), followed by breast (19.0%), genitourinary (13.7%), lung (10.1%), head and neck (6.0%), rectal (6.0%), gynecological (4.9%), and other (< 4%) cancers. Distribution by disease stage was as follows: breast cancer: 75.5% early stage (stages 0, I, and II); lung: 63.1% advanced stage (III and IV); and head and neck: 72.1% advanced. Treatment intent was curative in 76.5% of cases and palliative in 23.5%. The most common techniques were intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) (41.4%), followed by three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) (39.2%); stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) (8.1%); brachytherapy (5.5%); radiosurgery (2.1%); fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy to the brain (1.4%); and intraoperative radiotherapy (1.4%). Hypofractionation was used in 62.3% of curative treatments (mean number of fractions = 16.5).

Conclusions

RENORT is a free app that is available for the two main oncology information systems used in most radiation oncology departments. This app has demonstrated the capacity to extract data from these systems, which in turns allows for a comprehensive analysis and better understanding of the role of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Varian and Elekta for supporting this project by developing applications for their ARIA and Mosaiq information systems, respectively. They especially thank Joao Pedro Alves and Ludger Diederich for their direct involvement in the development of the app. They also thank Francisco Vázquez (Elekta) and Jaime Calderón (Varian) for believing in the project and supporting it. They thank Astellas Pharma Spain for support in the data mining work of both apps and especially Emilio Pedrosa for believing in the need for this project in radiation oncology. They also thank the SEOR Boards chaired by Pedro Lara, Carlos Ferrer, and Jorge Contreras for their support in the continuation of the project. The colleagues from the Radiation Oncology Department-Ascires of the General Hospital of Valencia are acknowledged for their dedication in perfecting the data entry method and in debugging the data to ensure the utility of the app. They thank Andres Marcos Carrión, Pilar Castellote Huget, and Jose Manuel Santabarbara for their support in the statistical analysis of the data. Finally, they thank Bradley Londres for professional English language editing of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology‑ASCIRES, Hospital General Universitario de Valencia, Av. Tres Cruces, 2, 46014, Valencia, Spain

    J. López-Torrecilla

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, 14004, Cordoba, Spain

    A. Palacios Eito

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago (CHUS), 15702, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain

    A. Gómez-Caamaño

  4. Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital General Universitario Santa Maria del Rosell, 30203, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

    J. Salinas Ramos

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital Universitario Rey Juan Carlos, 28933, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain

    P. Samper Ots

  6. Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital Ruber Internacional, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    A. Rodríguez Pérez

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  1. J. López-Torrecilla
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  3. A. Gómez-Caamaño
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. López-Torrecilla.

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López-Torrecilla, J., Palacios Eito, A., Gómez-Caamaño, A. et al. RENORT: a project to analyze patterns of care in radiation oncology in Spain. Clin Transl Oncol 24, 1322–1332 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-021-02772-w

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