Bladder Runner: Visual Analytics for the Exploration of RT-Induced Bladder Toxicity in a Cohort Study

Information

• Publication Type: Journal Paper with Conference Talk
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Visualization Group
• Date: 2018
• Journal: Computer Graphics Forum
• Volume: 37
• Number: 3
• Lecturer: Renata Raidou
• ISSN: 1467-8659
• Event: EuroVis 2018
• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13413
• Pages: 205-216
• Conference date: June 2018
• Pages: 205 – 216

Abstract

We present the Bladder Runner, a novel tool to enable detailed visual exploration and analysis of the impact of bladder shape variation on the accuracy of dose delivery, during the course of prostate cancer radiotherapy (RT). Our tool enables the investigation of individual patients and cohorts through the entire treatment process, and it can give indications of RT-induced complications for the patient. In prostate cancer RT treatment, despite the design of an initial plan prior to dose administration, bladder toxicity remains very common. The main reason is that the dose is delivered in multiple fractions over a period of weeks, during which, the anatomical variation of the bladder - due to differences in urinary filling - causes deviations between planned and delivered doses. Clinical researchers want to correlate bladder shape variations to dose deviations and toxicity risk through cohort studies, to understand which specific bladder shape characteristics are more prone to side effects. This is currently done with Dose-Volume Histograms (DVHs), which provide limited, qualitative insight. The effect of bladder variation on dose delivery and the resulting toxicity cannot be currently examined with the DVHs. To address this need, we designed and implemented the Bladder Runner, which incorporates visualization strategies in a highly interactive environment with multiple linked views. Individual patients can be explored and analyzed through the entire treatment period, while inter-patient and temporal exploration, analysis and comparison are also supported. We demonstrate the applicability of our presented tool with a usage scenario, employing a dataset of 29 patients followed through the course of the treatment, across 13 time points. We conducted an evaluation with three clinical researchers working on the investigation of RT-induced bladder toxicity. All participants agreed that Bladder Runner provides better understanding and new opportunities for the exploration and analysis of the involved cohort data.

Additional Files and Images

Weblinks

• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13413

BibTeX

@article{raidou_2018_bladderrunner,
  title =      "Bladder Runner: Visual Analytics for the Exploration of
               RT-Induced Bladder Toxicity in a Cohort Study",
  author =     "Renata Raidou and Oscar Casares-Magaz and Aleksandr
               Amirkhanov and Vitali Moiseenko and Ludvig Paul Muren and
               John P. Einck and Anna Vilanova i Bartroli and Eduard
               Gr\"{o}ller",
  year =       "2018",
  abstract =   "We present the Bladder Runner, a novel tool to enable
               detailed visual exploration and analysis of the impact of
               bladder shape variation on the accuracy of dose delivery,
               during the course of prostate cancer radiotherapy (RT). Our
               tool enables the investigation of individual patients and
               cohorts through the entire treatment process, and it can
               give indications of RT-induced complications for the
               patient. In prostate cancer RT treatment, despite the design
               of an initial plan prior to dose administration, bladder
               toxicity remains very common. The main reason is that the
               dose is delivered in multiple fractions over a period of
               weeks, during which, the anatomical variation of the bladder
               - due to differences in urinary filling - causes deviations
               between planned and delivered doses. Clinical researchers
               want to correlate bladder shape variations to dose
               deviations and toxicity risk through cohort studies, to
               understand which specific bladder shape characteristics are
               more prone to side effects. This is currently done with
               Dose-Volume Histograms (DVHs), which provide limited,
               qualitative insight. The effect of bladder variation on dose
               delivery and the resulting toxicity cannot be currently
               examined with the DVHs. To address this need, we designed
               and implemented the Bladder Runner, which incorporates
               visualization strategies in a highly interactive environment
               with multiple linked views. Individual patients can be
               explored and analyzed through the entire treatment period,
               while inter-patient and temporal exploration, analysis and
               comparison are also supported. We demonstrate the
               applicability of our presented tool with a usage scenario,
               employing a dataset of 29 patients followed through the
               course of the treatment, across 13 time points. We conducted
               an evaluation with three clinical researchers working on the
               investigation of RT-induced bladder toxicity. All
               participants agreed that Bladder Runner provides better
               understanding and new opportunities for the exploration and
               analysis of the involved cohort data.",
  journal =    "Computer Graphics Forum",
  volume =     "37",
  number =     "3",
  issn =       "1467-8659",
  doi =        "10.1111/cgf.13413",
  pages =      "205-216",
  pages =      "205--216",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2018/raidou_2018_bladderrunner/",
}