I have a daughter with Nephroblastomatosis, a super rare kind of kidney cancer that often lasts for years before just naturally going away (no one knows why), and dealing with the treatment options is agonizing.
For example, she's been on 3 different kinds of chemotherapy for 12+ months. 2 of the chemotherapy drugs don't seem to do anything. The 3rd kind seemed to result in an immediate reduction of the nephroblastomatosis, but unfortunately this chemo drug is very harmful to your body and there is a limit to how much of the drug you can receive. Now, she is not on chemo anymore.
Every 1.5 months we go in for a checkup, alternating between an MRI and sonogram.
2 times they have found "spots" on her kidneys. But, what to do about them? Additional chemo? Surgery? Wait and see? This is what I want a computer to tell me. What are the risks of surgery? What are the risks of losing more of your kidney? What are the risks of additional chemo? What are the risks of doing nothing? I would rather a computer had this information and gave its recommendation, rather than a group of doctors and us, the parents. We would be using the same logic in our decision, so it seems like the computer could do it more accurately and with zero bias.
I welcome Watson into our health care system. Anything that takes some of the agony out of very very difficult treatment decisions will be a good thing.
For example, she's been on 3 different kinds of chemotherapy for 12+ months. 2 of the chemotherapy drugs don't seem to do anything. The 3rd kind seemed to result in an immediate reduction of the nephroblastomatosis, but unfortunately this chemo drug is very harmful to your body and there is a limit to how much of the drug you can receive. Now, she is not on chemo anymore.
Every 1.5 months we go in for a checkup, alternating between an MRI and sonogram.
2 times they have found "spots" on her kidneys. But, what to do about them? Additional chemo? Surgery? Wait and see? This is what I want a computer to tell me. What are the risks of surgery? What are the risks of losing more of your kidney? What are the risks of additional chemo? What are the risks of doing nothing? I would rather a computer had this information and gave its recommendation, rather than a group of doctors and us, the parents. We would be using the same logic in our decision, so it seems like the computer could do it more accurately and with zero bias.
I welcome Watson into our health care system. Anything that takes some of the agony out of very very difficult treatment decisions will be a good thing.