This document provides guidelines for contouring the clinical target volumes (CTVs) and planning target volumes (PTVs) for cervical cancer radiotherapy treatment planning. It describes how to delineate the gross tumor volume (GTV), CTVs for the primary tumor (CTV2) and lymph nodes (CTV1), and the internal target volume (ITV) and PTV margins. CTV2 includes the cervix, uterus, vagina and parametrium. CTV1 covers the pelvic lymph nodes. The ITV expands CTV2 for uterine motion. The PTV adds setup error margins to the total CTV (CTV1 + CTV2) and incorporates the ITV expansion around CTV2.

1. CERVIX CONTURING
PGI GUIDELINE
DR ABANI KANTA NANDA
SENIOR RESIDENT
AHPGIC, CUTTACK
Anshuma Bansal, Firuza D. Patel, Bhavana Rai, Abhishek Gulia, BhaswanthDhanireddy, S. C. Sharma
Department of Radiotherapy,
PGIMER, Chandigarh,
India

2. CT SIMULATION:
• Patients are kept fasting for minimum 4 hours prior to planning CT scan.
• They are given oral and rectal contrast for delineating critical structures.
• Oral contrast constitutes 20 ml urograffin dissolved in 1 litre water given over
1 hour, before CT scan.
• Rectal contrast is given by dissolving 20 ml urograffin in 50 ml normal saline.
• Patients are asked to void urine 15 minutes prior to CT.
• Similar fluid intake and bladder voiding instructions are given while treating
patients, so as to ensure a consistent and reproducible bladder filling status.

3. CT SIM
• For intravenous contrast, 100 ml of omnipaque is used according to Cross
method of intravenous contrast administration.
• After preparation, patient is made to lie supine on couch in CT simulator.
• Knee wedge is used as positioning device to maintain position reproducibility.
• CT scan is obtained from T10-T11 interspace to upper third of femur, with
3.75 mm slice thickness.

4. BLADDER FILLING
• George et al. and Pinkawa et al. recommended a full bladder for treatment
of gynecological malignancies, as the dose-volume-load to bladder and
cranially displaced sigmoid colon/small bowel loops can be reduced
significantly.
• However; Pinkawa in another study found that bladder wall displacements are
reduced significantly (P < 0.01) at superior and anterior border while
treating empty bladder compared to full bladder and also there is less
variability in bladder volume in an empty bladder state.
• Still, the ideal bladder filling status has not been ensured by any study so far.
• They therefore at their institute follow a consistent bladder filling protocol of
voiding urine 15 min prior to both imaging and treatment.

5. OAR DELINEATION:
• OAR includes
1. Bowel
2. Bladder
3. Rectum
4. Bone Marrow

6. GTV – GTV PRIMARY NOT CONTOUR SEPARATELY BUT
GTV NODE IS CONTOURED
• Fusion of the T2-weighted axial MR images to the planning CT was
recommended.
• However in Indian setup, most of the centres utilize CT only, rather than MRI,
due to cost constraints. But on CT, the extent of disease into uterus cannot be
distinguished accurately.
• Therefore, at their institute, GTV primary is not contoured separately, rather it
is contoured in continuation with the uterus.
• At their institute, the uterine corpus, entire cervix and the vagina are
contoured along with the gross disease as a single structure, CTV 2.

7. CTV→ CTV NODAL (CTV1)
• Includes involved nodes and relevant draining nodal groups
1. Common iliac
2. Internal iliac
3. External iliac
4. Obturator
5. Presacral LN)
6. Inclusion of para-aortic LN depends on the extent of disease and results of
staging investigations.

8. CTV 1
1. Start contouring iliac vessels from aortic bifurcation down till the appearance of
femoral head
2. Uniformly, pelvic blood vessels are given a margin of 7mm however; the upper
border is maintained at aortic bifurcation
3. The contour is extended around common iliac vessels posteriorly and laterally so as
to include connective tissue between iliopsoas muscles and lateral surface of
vertebral body
4. No additional 10mm anterolateral extension is given around external iliac vessels
along the iliopsoas muscle
5. To cover obturator nodes, a strip 17 mm wide is created medial to the pelvic
sidewall, by joining the contour of external iliac vessels with internal iliac vessels.

9. CTV 1
6. Contouring of obturator nodes with 17 mm brush is continued lower down along
pelvic side wall, till superior part of obturator foramen
7. The posterior margin of CTV 1 contour over internal iliac vessels lies along
anterior edge of piriformis muscle
8. Pre-sacral region is covered by connecting the volumes on each side of pelvis
with a 10-mm strip over the anterior sacrum starting from aortic bifurcation till
S2-S3 junction.
Sacral foramina are not included in CTV 1
9. All visible nodes (contoured as GTV node) are given a margin of 10mm to
create CTV node and are included in CTV 1
10.Muscle and bone are excluded from CTV 1.

10. FIGURE 1: AN ATLAS OF CLINICAL TARGET VOLUME FOR
PELVIC LYMPH NODES FOR UTERINE CERVICAL CANCER
(a-h), VESSELS (YELLOW), CTV 1 (RED)
a b c d
e f g h

11. •CTV PRIMARY= CTV 2 + CTV 3
Uterus
Parametrium + ovary

12. CTV PRIMARY
• CTV primary for intact carcinoma cervix consists of
1. Gross tumor volume of the primary tumor (GTV primary)
2. Uterine cervix
3. Uterine corpus
4. Vagina
5. Parametrium
6. Ovaries.

13. CTV2
1. Gross disease (GTV primary)
2. Entire cervix
3. Uterine corpus
4. Vagina
• For vagina, paravaginal tissue is included along with the vaginal wall.
• In cases with minimal or no vaginal wall involvement, the contouring is stopped
four slices above the lower border of obturator foramen, so that when 1.5 cm ITV
(internal target volume) margin is given over the uterus, the lower border of ITV
should not extend beyond the lower border of obturator foramen.

14. CTV 2
• However; for cases with vaginal wall involvement, the caudal level of vagina is
individually determined based on findings of both the MRI and clinical
examinations.
• A vaginal marker is placed at the lower extent of vaginal disease while
taking CT
• As per RTOG guidelines the following extent of vagina is taken:
1. Upper vaginal involvement: Upper two-thirds of vagina
2. Extensive vaginal involvement: Entire vagina.

15. AN ATLAS OF CLINICAL TARGET VOLUME (CTV) FOR
PRIMARY FOR UTERINE CERVICAL CANCER, (2a-2d)
REPRESENT DELINEATION OF CTV 2 (PINK)
a b c d

16. CTV 3 = PARAMETRIUM + OVARY IF VISIBLE ON CT SCAN
• To delineate the parametrium, connective tissue extending from the cervix to
the pelvic wall are included, along with the visible linear structures that run
laterally (e.g. vessels, nerves and fibrous structures).
• Cranial border of parametrium → the level where the true pelvis begins.
• Anteriorly → done up to the level of posterior border of bladder in the
central region, while, in periphery it extends till the anterior end of lateral
pelvic bony wall, as the parametrium is attached till here.

17. CTV 3
• Posteriorly→ different in two different sets of patients.
➢In patients with FIGO stage III B or greater disease, or who have clinical or radiological
evidence of involvement of uterosacral ligaments, or have extensive nodal involvement, the
parametrial volumes would extend up to the rectal contour to include the entire
mesorectum and uterosacral ligaments within the parametrium [Figure 2 g].
➢In all other patients who do not have the advanced disease, the posterior boundary of
parametrium is contoured only till the anterior part (semicircular) of mesorectal fascia
[Figure 2 f].
• Laterally→ till the lateral pelvic wall, upto the medial edge of internal obturator muscle.
• Caudal border → medial border of levator ani or at the pelvic floor.

18. 2(e-i) REPRESENT DELINEATION OF CTV 3(RED), WHERE
2f SHOWS PARAMETRIAL CONTOURING FOR CERVIX
CANCER STAGE II B, AND
2g SHOWS PARAMETRIAL CONTOURING FOR BULKY STAGE
III B
e f
g
h

19. INTERNAL TARGET VOLUME (ITV) MARGIN
• The uterine motion is accounted for by giving an ITV margin [Figure 3] on the
uterus.
• An asymmetrical margin with CTV 2 –
• ITV expansion of
➢15 mm antero-posteriorly,
➢15mm superoinferiorly and
➢7 mm laterally, is taken from the uterus

20. (2J) REPRESENTS TOTAL CTV (RED)

21. FUGURE 3: AXIAL SLICE SHOWING DIFFERENT MARGINS
GIVEN OVER CTV 2 → ITV (BLUE), TOTAL CTV (LIGHT
GREEN), TOTAL PTV

22. TOTAL TARGET VOLUME
• CTV 1 and the CTV primary are combined and named as total CTV [Figure 2j], which is
further given a margin of 10 mm all around for the total PTV [Figure 3] to account for
setup errors. → total CTV= CTV primary+ CTV 1 (Node)
• Total PTV = total CTV + 10mm margin
• The ITV margin given over CTV 2 for uterine motion is added to the total PTV and this is
taken as the total target volume (final PTV) to be treated [Figure 4].
• Final PTV = total PTV + ITV
• Thus, in the final PTV, the margin from the uterine surface remains same as given for ITV,
i.e., 15mm in both anteroposterior and superior-inferior direction.
• The final PTV is manually or automatically trimmed up to 3mm from the skin surface, if
necessary to spare skin, provided that the CTV is still included entirely within the PTV.

23. FIGURE 4: AXIAL SLICE SHOWING FINAL PTV (RED)

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