Computers may replace doctors in deciding cancer treatment

Mathematical formulas have been devised by scientists to be used by computers to decide cancer patient’s course of treatment. The computer models have proved to be better at predicting how suffers will respond chemotherapy than doctors. A computer model of lung cancer was discovered to consistently be more efficient at predicting the future symptoms of patients after a course of chemotherapy or radiotherapy or chemotherapy than the physicians responsible for their care. Research explained that the models are fed personal medical details and the history of treatment of each cancer patient. Speaking to British newspaper The Telegraph, Dr Cary Oberije, of Maastricht University Medical Hospital in the Netherlands, said: "If models based on a patient, tumour and treatment characteristics already outperform the doctors, then it is unethical to make treatment decisions based solely on the doctors' opinion."We believe models should be implemented in clinical practice to guide decisions." The computer models were used by the scientists to determine how many lung cancer patients out of 21 would survive the next two years, and which of those would suffer difficulties with breathing and how many would find it hard to swallow. As scientists collect further data on cancer patients, including information about their genetic make-up, computer models are thought to become more and more important in deciding how to respond to certain diseases. Dr Oberije said the research proved that "individualised treatment can only succeed it prediction models are used in clinical practice". He added: "We know that there are many factors that play a role in the prognosis of patients and prediction models can combine them all."