The Pelvic Rosetta Classification Project: An Interdisciplinary Proposal for a Lymph Node Map of the Pelvis in Prostate Cancer.

Abstract

The Pelvic Rosetta Classification (PRC) project aimed to develop an interdisciplinary, landmark-based pelvic lymph node map for patients with prostate cancer to improve communication between imaging specialists and urologists. <b>Methods:</b> After an intense development phase, we conducted 3 evaluation rounds including 19 clinical experts having consensus meetings after each evaluation round. Experts contoured lymph node areas (LNA) for 2 patients with prostate cancer. Contours were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. The PRC was further validated by assignment of 30 prostate-specific membrane antigen PET/CT-positive lesions to LNAs. The interrater reliability was calculated using Fleiss κ. Based on the final PRC, a complete contour and a 3-dimensional model were created. <b>Results:</b> Eight pelvic (external iliac, cranial/caudal obturator fossa, dorsal internal iliac, vesico-prostatic pedicle, mesorectal/perirectal, presacral, preprostatic/retropubic) and 4 extrapelvic (common iliac, intercommon, sigmoid, inguinal) LNAs were defined using anatomic landmarks which are consistently recognizable on imaging and intraoperatively. Strong consensus between experts existed for smaller, well-defined LNAs (e.g., preprostatic/retropubic, mesorectal/perirectal LNAs) compared with regions with proportionally large borders (e.g., obturator fossa, vesico-prostatic pedicle LNAs). Overall, moderate agreement (κ = 0.53) was observed during validation. Discrepancies were mostly encountered for lesions adjacent to borders between LNAs. The final contour and 3-dimensional model were approved by all experts. <b>Conclusion:</b> The PRC project showed fair reproducibility and validity. Further external validation is needed to assess its influence on interdisciplinary communication and treatment outcomes.