Breast Cancer : the incredible digital tool that allows patients to inform

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Published the 31.01.2018 at 15h55

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breast cancer

This is the cancer female is the most prevalent : breast cancer affects approximately 54 000 new women each year. According to the league against cancer, today 3 cancers of the breast 4 are cared for. There are several types of treatments : surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy. Doctors and patients think together for therapeutic leads, and sometimes the decisions can be tough. Researchers from the university of Michigan, in the United States, have created an interactive online tool, called “iCanDecide,” to better inform patients of their treatments. They publish this week the results of a study conducted on the effectiveness of this tool.

An interactive tool

Sarah T. Hawley is professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and senior author of the study. According to her, “knowledge is a key point in the decision-making, however, today it is still low, even among patients who have already received treatment. We need better tools for these decisions to be better informed.”

Patients better informed

This tool is based on interactivity. Patients must answer questions to gain access to more information, which allows the scientists to ensure that everything is clear and understood. The interface allows you to analyze the preferences of each one of the scenarios presented to them and based on their answers, doctors can determine what solutions are preferable. 61% of the patients who used the tool have a better understanding of the different types of treatments, compared to 42% of patients who had access only to the classical website. Half of the women who have used “iCanDecide” consider that they were well prepared before making their decision.

The technology can help the medicine. Last June, researchers from the University of North Carolina have demonstrated the effectiveness of an application designed for patients in chemotherapy. They were equipped with a digital tablet, allowing them to report their symptoms to better alert caregivers. It has been shown that these patients survived for an average of 5 months longer than those who did not have access to.