Method of predicting carcinomic metastases
First Claim
1. A machine-executed method of generating a signal encoding the location of at-risk sites having an elevated risk of containing cancer cells in a patient having a primary tumor associated with a cancer, said method comprising:
- (a) receiving a signal encoding the location of said primary tumor;
(b) generating a list of at-risk sites as a function of the location of the primary tumor;
(c) receiving signals respectively encoding metastatis indications for each of a subset of said at-risk sites;
(d) for each said at-risk site, computing an index of metastasis likelihood as a function of (1) the location of said primary tumor, and (2) the respective signal encoding a metastasis indicator for said at-risk site; and
(e) displaying said indices of metastasis likelihood and the respective locations of the associated at-risk sites.
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Abstract
A method of predicting the locations of the lymph nodes most at risk of metastasis from a primary tumor associated with a cancer of the neck or head. The method utilizes data on the location of the primary tumor and the identity of lymph nodes to which the cancer has already spread. The data are transformated by a weighted multidimensional scaling (WMDS) process; points representing clusters of lymph nodes are placed in an imaginary mathematical space such that distances between points in that space are proportional to differences in the occurrence frequency of metastases.
86 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A machine-executed method of generating a signal encoding the location of at-risk sites having an elevated risk of containing cancer cells in a patient having a primary tumor associated with a cancer, said method comprising:
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(a) receiving a signal encoding the location of said primary tumor; (b) generating a list of at-risk sites as a function of the location of the primary tumor; (c) receiving signals respectively encoding metastatis indications for each of a subset of said at-risk sites; (d) for each said at-risk site, computing an index of metastasis likelihood as a function of (1) the location of said primary tumor, and (2) the respective signal encoding a metastasis indicator for said at-risk site; and (e) displaying said indices of metastasis likelihood and the respective locations of the associated at-risk sites. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15)
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12. A method of identifying the location, in a patient having observed metastases, of a hidden primary tumor associated with a cancer, said method comprising:
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(a) determining the location of said one or more observed metastases; (b) determining a set of one or more possible primary tumors that could have contributed one or more of the observed metastases; (c) for each said possible primary tumor, computing an index of likelihood that the observed metastases arose from that possible primary tumor; and (d) displaying said indices of likelihood and the respective locations of the associated possible primary tumors. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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Specification