A prospective study comparing radiographer- and clinician-based localization for patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) to assess the feasibility of a radiographer-led service

To investigate whether there was parity between treatment fields localized by radiographers and clinicians, by comparing geographical variations and hence determining the feasibility of a radiographer-led service. 23 patients with metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) were prospectively sampled. Four radiographers not involved in the original planning performed localization on each patient. The 92 localizations that they determined were compared with the clinician-approved fields. Agreement was defined as ≤0.5 cm between field length, width and three isocentre co-ordinates. To be feasible, agreement was required in a minimum of 97% of the cases. The potential time saved with a radiographer-led approach was also recorded. Agreement between clinicians and radiographers was 97.8%. For all field parameters, the average differences were