Covering the CSF space: does teaching make a difference?
Following a paediatric teaching course for radiation oncology registrars which specifically addressed the method for planning cranial irradiation, a lateral skull simulation film was sent to all attendees to assess the effect of the teaching. To assess current clinical practice in New Zealand, a copy of the same radiograph was sent to radiation oncologists who had not attended the course. Recommendations from the course were that 10-mm margins should be placed in the regions of the cribiform plate and the floor of the middle cranial fossa. However, only 6.9% of the attendees marked the film with the recommended 10-mm margins. Dose profiles are also presented to support the use of 10-mm margins.