Rapid advances in auto-segmentation of organs at risk and target volumes in head and neck cancer

•Accurate delineation of organs at risk (OARs) and target volumes (TVs) is critical for maximising tumour control and minimising radiation toxicities for patients with cancer of the head and neck (HNC).•Variability in TV and OAR delineation has been shown to have significant dosimetric impacts for patients on treatment.•Auto-segmentation (AS) techniques can reduce both inter-practitioner variability and the time taken in TV and OAR delineation in HNC.•The time taken for manual delineation currently prevents adaptive radiotherapy from being implemented optimally.•If such technologies are implemented correctly, AS should result in better standardisation of treatment for patients and significantly reduce the time taken to plan radiotherapy.