Radiation or surgery for prostate cancer: these students help patients make the choice
Every year, more than 13,000 Dutch men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. They then face a difficult choice: radiation or surgery? Three Life Sciences students recently presented their software at UMC Utrecht, which aims to make that decision easier, reports Trajectum.
For prostate cancer, the choice often comes down to two treatments, each with its own potential side effects. Radiation increases the risk of bowel problems and more frequent urination, while surgery can cause incontinence. “By making these differences clear, you give patients more room to make a well-informed decision themselves,” says Renate J. Visser, supervisor at UMC Utrecht. She emphasizes that this personal consideration is crucial. “Some patients are still sexually active, while others work long hours, where incontinence would be particularly inconvenient. These men have different needs and therefore make different choices.”
Patients Like Me
In just ten weeks, Bo Steinschuld (22), Rachel van der Kreeft (24) and Jinte van den Brink (21) developed the ‘Patients Like Me’ dashboard. It compares a patient’s situation with that of previous patients with the same diagnosis. They developed the dashboard as part of their Data Science Projecticum.
To understand what patients need, the students first gained practical experience. They attended a consultation and observed a radiation treatment. This was followed by several weeks of programming in R. To ensure that the dashboard worked properly, they tested it using fictional data.
The dashboard they designed can help patients make a more informed decision. “It allows patients to assess whether a treatment matches what they want. That is valuable,” says Visser.
Author: Christiaan de Paauw. Read the full article here on Trajectum.