Decision Modeling of Psychological and Clinical Factors in Assessing TreatmentAlternatives for Lobular Carcinoma in Situ

摘要

The present project was designed to develop formal decision models, using bothexisting databases as well as personal preferences expressed by women with breast disease, to develop computer-based tools to help physicians and their patients decide on the optimal course of medical action for women with Lobular carcinoma in situ. During the first year of this project, formal decision models were constructed to fit the LCIS decision problems. Markov chaining was found useful in developing fine-tuned models. In addition, several national, local and international databases were examined for use in the decision tools. At the end of year 1 of this project, several presentations have been made/accepted for imminent presentation, and one abstract has been accepted for publication. The conclusions arrived at during this year are that: Devising useful decision models for LCIS is certainly feasible, and will provide assistance in making the very difficult treatment decisions involved in this disease. Second, recommendations must be made to generate more satisfactory longitudinal databases for women with LCIS so that the probabilities of developing invasive cancers can be estimated with greater accuracy.