Tool support to enable evaluation of the clinical response to treatment

Abstract

Objective criteria for measuring response to cancer treatment are critical to clinical research and practice. The National Cancer Institute has developed the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) method to quantify treatment response. RECIST evaluates response by assessing a set of measurable target lesions in baseline and follow-up radiographic studies. However, applying RECIST consistently is challenging due to inter-observer variability among oncologists and radiologists in choice and measurement of target lesions. We analyzed the radiologist-oncologist workflow to determine whether the information collected is sufficient for reliably applying RECIST. We evaluated radiology reports and image markup (radiologists), and clinical flow sheets (oncologists). We found current reporting of radiology results insufficient for consistent application of RECIST, compared with flow sheets. We identified use cases and functional requirements for an informatics tool that could improve consistency and accuracy in applying methods such as RECIST.

Figure 1

CT scan showing 4 measurable liver lesions with image markup of longest diameter

Figure 1

Example of completed Study Finding Table created by radiologist at time of baseline study

Figure 2

Example of Patient Finding Table populated with baseline study finding annotations