[An interactive and evolutive software program to personalize treatment schedule : implication on daily life: the Centre Léon Bérard experience].

Abstract

The second plan against cancer, initiated by the French President in 2003, has introduced a two-step procedure to announce cancer to the patient. During initial visit, the doctor tells the patient about his disease. On the second visit, the doctor elaborates the treatment strategy and proposes an individualized treatment plan for each patient. The objective of this plan is to offer to patients and caregivers an accurate, precise and personalized treatment schedule. The Centre Léon Bérard (Regional Cancer Center) has implemented a computerized model to manage all different treatment schedules. We developed a software program based on two different steps. Firstly, standard treatment schedules are programmed for each type of disease. To offer a better view of the influence of treatment on daily life, we added information such as place of treatment (ambulatory, inpatient, outpatient) impact on well being (side effects, risk of aplasia...), future evaluations and medical acts (CT scan, MRI, lumbar puncture...) as well as actions the patient should take (blood cell count, to have eaten nothing...). Secondly, it tailors these standard treatments as well as all complementary information's to the specific needs of each patient, based on the medical information available in their computerized records. This personalized plan may be modified and adjusted at any time including therefore more and more real details and insights for each patient (delay of chemotherapy, dates of CT scan....). This would help patients and caregivers to better understand the different phases of the treatment and, thus, improve patient follow-up and information at every step of patient management. This tool is currently being tested at the Centre Léon Bérard.