Resident experience in brachytherapy: An analysis of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education case logs for intracavitary and interstitial brachytherapy from 2007 to 2018

PurposeWe sought to characterize temporal trends of radiation oncology resident–reported case experience with intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) and interstitial brachytherapy (ISBT).Methods and MaterialsSummarized, deidentified case logs for graduating radiation oncology residents (GRORs) between 2007 and 2018 were obtained from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education national summary data report. Cases were subdivided based on the site of treatment. Analysis of variance was used to determine differences, and strength of association was evaluated using the Pearson correlation.ResultsThe number of GRORs increased by 66% from 114 in 2007 to 189 in 2018 (p < 0.001). Average number of gynecologic ICBT cases per GROR increased, from 39.6 in 2007 to 48.7 in 2018 (p < 0.005). Average number of ISBT cases per GROR decreased, from 34.5 to 20.6 (p < 0.001), due to decreasing prostate volume, from 21.5 to 12 (p < 0.001). Experience with gynecologic ISBT cases remained low at an average of 4.5 cases per year.ConclusionsThe average number of ICBT cases per GROR has increased, although this does not differentiate between cylinder and tandem-based insertions currently. There has been a steady decline in ISBT experience. These findings may have implications for the development of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education case minimums for residency programs.