Diagnostic planning using computer assisted decision‐making for patients with Hodgkin's disease

A family of computer programs has been developed to help physicians effectively utilize available clinical information as in indicator of tumor extent for the staging of Hodgkin's disease patients. Decision analysis techniques were employed to suggest chronologic sequencing of selected, risk‐associated tests, tailored to the individual patient, that minimize the risk of iatrogenic mortality. These quantitative techniques provide an objective measure of expected survival for a given plan of action. By using this information a physician and patient can balance expected survival vs morbidity of proposed staging procedures. Physicians can then focus on the interrelation between the inherent diagnostic uncertainty, therapy‐induced expected survival, and morbid consequences of staging procedures. The use of these decision‐making tools enables the physician to identify patient‐specific presentations where the formation of an individual diagnostic plan could lead both to reduction in testing and to an increased survival rate.