Advanced viz drives personalized medicine
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Informing such nuanced treatment decisions requires laser-sharp details and data. Two recent studies demonstrate that advanced visualization tools can provide the details required to personalize care effectively.
Treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) represents the conundrum of overtreatment. Breast imaging specialists acknowledge that some cases of DCIS may be overtreated. However, they do not yet understand which cases of DCIS require treatment to reduce progression to invasive disease and which cases of DCIS can be managed with a less intense approach.
Habib Rahbar, MD, from the department of radiology at the University of Washington, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and colleagues developed and applied a model to leverage diffusion-weighted and dynamic-contrast MRI features to differentiate women with DCIS at high risk of progression from those with less severe disease.
The capability to categorize patients could allow physicians to better tailor treatment to individual patients. Potentially, some women with low-risk DCIS could forego radiation therapy, thus curbing morbidity and cutting costs, according to Rahbar and colleagues.
In another study detailing the potential contribution of advanced visualization to personalized medicine, the researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at University of California-Los Angeles used coronary CT angiography to identify young adults with diabetes to detect stenosis and plaque.
The capability to identify these patients provides physicians with the data they need to consider earlier initiation of primary coronary artery disease prevention, such as lipid-lowering treatment.
Many, many more examples and studies will continue to drive personalized medicine. Is your facility using advanced visualization to personalize treatment? Do you have the appropriate infrastructure in place to do so?
Beth Walsh
Editor, CMIO
[email protected]
Beth Walsh, Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.