A lot is known about cancer in India — it is one of the leading causes of death, and nearly 0.8 million new cases occur every year. But how much is known about the outcomes of the treatment of cancer? About how patients react to drugs and how they fare long term?
To gather and analyse this data, Ramesh Nimmagadda, director of medical oncology at Apollo Hospitals, has come up with a software programme called ‘OncoCollect.’
“In India, we still use protocols and guidelines of treatment from the West. But as several Indian studies have shown, Indian patients react differently to drug regimens — for instance, they tend to get more side effects and their tolerance for toxicity is lower. That is why collecting and analysing data on cancer treatments and outcomes is crucial, it can help us develop an Indian standard of treatment,” said Dr. Nimmagadda.
Dr. Nimmagadda said the software could be installed on a desktop or to a hospital’s LAN, enabling doctors to key in details of patients. Drugs used in cancer treatment are part of the software, and doctors can choose the regimen they are using. All other forms of cancer treatment are also covered in the software including surgery and radiotherapy.
They could then record responses seen, toxicity/side effects, survival periods and relapses.
Each doctor could analyse his own data for patterns and could also contribute to a pool of data generated, both within a hospital and across the country. The pool could then be studied by data analysers for larger trends. Both the patients’ and the doctors’ identities become anonymous when the data is pooled.
The software is equipped for all cancers and lymphomas except blood cancers.
“For effective use of the software, we have set up the Ramesh Nimmagadda Cancer Foundation. The software will be given free of cost and we will also provide assistance in using it,” said Dr. Nimmagadda.
The idea, said Dr. Nimmagadda, was to gather as much data on as many cancers from as many patients as possible. “Apart from showing us treatment outcomes, it will also show us economic costs — both costs borne by the patient, as well as costs and efficacies of certain drugs used. Some studies have already found that lower dosages work as well as higher dosages — this cost effectiveness too, can be studied,” he said.
