OHSU’s Web-based Software Predicts Long-term Survival for Head and Neck Cancer Patients
July 2, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
A web-based software program that can make more accurate predictions of long-term survival for head and neck cancer patients have been developed by researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute.
According to Samuel J. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator, Holman Pathway Resident in the Department of Radiation Medicine, OHSU School of Medicine:
“This new tool can help us make personalized predictions of conditional survival for an individual patient depending on his or her specific situation.
This is the first time we have the ability to make a customized prediction of conditional survival probability for an individual head and neck cancer survivor, based on his or her specific characteristics.
Now that cancer researchers are beginning to collect more specific information about patients’ tumors, such as tumor markers and genetic information, there is increasing interest in the development of these types of tools for making more specific predictions of a patient’s prognosis.”
For cancer researchers at OHSU, this is just the beginning. They hope to build similar software tools for other cancers that will enable physicians to give cancer patients more individualized prognosis and treatment recommendations.
Source: OHSU News
