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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is
published every Thursday during the
spring and summer terms by students
at the University of Michigan. One copy
is available free of charge to all readers.
Additional copies may be picked up at the
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall
term, starting in September, via U.S. mail
are $110. Winter term (January through
April) is $115, yearlong (September
through April) is $195. University affiliates
are subject to a reduced subscription rate.
On-campus subscriptions for fall term
are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
The Michigan Daily is a member of The
Associated Press and The Associated
Collegiate Press.
2
Thursday, May 11, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS
Michigan Medicine
increases detection
of prostate cancer
Study could
save companies
thousands of
dollars with fewer
diagnostics
By JORDYN BAKER
Daily Staff Reporter
A team of professors and
students from the University of
Michigan College of Engineering
and the Medical School recently
made
breakthroughs
in
a
study to create guidelines for
urologists to use when deciding
whether or not newly-diagnosed
prostate cancer patients should
be
recommended
for
bone
scans
and/or
computerized
tomography scans.
The study used data from the
Michigan
Urological
Surgery
Improvement
Collaborative,
which includes about 90 percent
of urologists in Michigan.
In an email interview, Selin
Merdan,
a
Ph.D.
candidate
in Industrial and Operations
Engineering and researcher in
this collaborative study, said
clinical guidelines state bone
and CT scans are necessary
only in cases where patients
have
“certain
unfavorable
characteristics,”
but
there
currently
is
no
agreement
regarding
the
best
uses
of
scans for men who are newly-
diagnosed
prostate
cancer
patients.
“Our
work
involved
developing predictive models to
design guidelines to determine
which patients should receive an
imaging test and which patients
can safely avoid imaging based
on their individual risk factors,”
Merdan wrote.
The results of the collaborative
study have helped to reduce
negative effects of excessive scans
and improve the detection rate
of metastatic cancer.
Brian
Denton,
professor
of Industrial and Operations
Engineering and Urology, served
as
a
supervisor
throughout
the process, and stated in an
email interview the guidelines
created from the study have
been implemented by MUSIC,
and have had successful results.
“Results
following
implementation
show
that
the
number
of
diagnostic
tests ordered have gone down
significantly and the rate of
detection has gone up,” Denton
wrote. “In other words a lot of
tests that unnecessarily burden
patients have been eliminated.”
The
work
completed
by
researchers
has
seen
other
positive
effects
as
well.
According
to
the
Michigan
News, the reduction in scans
has saved both patients and
insurance companies roughly
$275,000. More importantly,
it is estimated that millions
of prostate patients could be
spared from painful follow-up
treatments because of the use of
more selective diagnostic scans.
Along
with
the
criteria
instituted
by
MUSIC
for
administering bone and CT scans,
publications
from
the
study
have also been referenced in the
recent National Comprehensive
Cancer Network guidelines, an
acknowledgment
researchers
hope
will
influence
national
policy.
“The
biggest
takeaway
from this work is that we can
improve
the
efficiency
and
quality of healthcare delivery
by influencing clinical policy
making through the development
of new engineering approaches
combining
optimization
and
statistics,” Merdan wrote.
LSA junior Emma Bergman, a
member University’s chapter of Phi
Delta Epsilon medical fraternity,
stated while studies like these are
important in helping individual
patients reduce the amount of
unnecessary time and money they
spend, she feels it is also important
that members of society continue
to remain aware of progress such
as this so as to understand the
options for issues that may one day
affect them.
“I think it’s easy to not pay
attention to things when they don’t
directly affect you but the truth is
anyone can get cancer, anyone can
get some sort of illness,” Bergman
said. “It’s really important that
you know how the science is
developing and you know how it
might impact you later on.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL CENTER FILE PHOTO/Daily
...a lot of tests
that unecessarily
burden patients
have been
eliminated.