ASCO unveils CancerLinQ prototype to aid in treatment decisions
The American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) unveiled on Wednesday the first prototype of its CancerLinQ, a real-time learning system to help guide treatment decisions and measure quality and performance. ASCO constructed the prototype based on electronic medical records from 100,000 patients with breast cancer. The prototype includes data on each patient's treatment regimen, duration, outcomes and side effects, along with information on tumor size, stage and molecular profile. In a demonstration of CancerLinQ, the system determined that a hormone receptor-positive patient who had been on an aromatase inhibitor for a year and then developed joint pain -- a common side effect of the drug -- could be switched to tamoxifen, which is associated with a lower rate of joint pain. ...