Web helps doctors treat leukaemia

The information is stored on the web

An internet application could ensure patients with leukaemia do not receive dangerous doses of chemotherapy.

British doctors set up the system to give specialists information and advice on how to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Called Leukaemia Intervention Scheduling and Advice (LISA), it has been developed by doctors working with Cancer Research UK.

They believe it will improve the way children with the disease are treated.

The system is targeted at doctors and nurses treating children ALL, which affects over 300 children in the UK every year.

Complex treatment

Many of these children are treated for years, often by different teams of doctors and nurses.

Most take two chemotherapy drugs - one taken once a day and the other taken once a week.

A computer system that can assist doctors with drug dosage decisions will be extremely useful

Professor Vaskar Saha

Their treatment regime constantly changes as doctors battle to beat the disease.

Doctors decide what drug dose to give to patients based on their most recent blood test and on tests taken over previous weeks.

The LISA system can hold all of the information relating to the patient on the web, including details of their treatment and test results.

The doctors behind the system believe it will make treatment safer and easier.

"The treatment of childhood leukaemia is a long and complex process involving different organisations around the country," said Professor Vaskar Saha, one of those involved in the project.

"Chemotherapy doses have to be continually adjusted to ensure the best outcomes for the patient as there is a great deal of individual variation in response and both under-treatment and over-treatment can have serious consequences."

Professor Saha added: "A computer system that can assist doctors with drug dosage decisions will be extremely useful."

Enormous strain

Richard Palmer, vice-chairman of the National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parents Organisation, welcomed the move.

"Although the treatment of childhood ALL has a very high success rate, the length and complexity of treatment has a big impact on the health and on the quality of life of the child and their family. This puts an enormous strain on them all.

"This new system offers parents the potential of ensuring optimal dosing, when their child is being treated at different hospitals and is very ill."

Professor Robert Souhami, director of clinical and external affairs at Cancer Research UK, said the system could also be extended to help doctors treating patients with other forms of cancer.

"Systems like LISA also have applications in the management of other cancers and any disease where treatment is prolonged and requires co-ordinated input from medical teams in different parts of the country.

"In the future, I expect they will be a normal part of patient care, reducing the chance of clinical error and improving patient safety."