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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. 

