Celebrating 25 years of lung cancer

Well, the lungs are composed of five lobes. However, the ability to analyze data requires strict segmentation. And analyzing CT scan results would require a specific level of rules. For modelling purposes one would want to compare against other similar profiles.

One hears about "big data" today. Big data is a term that refers to large, diverse, and complex sets of information that are created and collected at high speeds from various sources. Big data can be structured, semi structured, or unstructured, and it challenges traditional database management tools. Big data can be analyzed for insights that improve decisions and enable advanced analytics applications such as machine learning and predictive modeling.
This is a new and evolving concept that has different meanings and implications for different fields and purposes.

Yes, "big data" is a hot buzzword and the IT industry definitely loves buzzwords. I have dealt with analysis and data structure my whole career. I am retired now but I started out in medical research at Mayo Clinic. I enjoyed the analysis part and switched to IT in the middle of my 35 years at Mayo. Liked application development with a focus on relational database design. The funny thing is my last 4 or 5 years I was working exclusively with radiation oncology and then I became a customer. ☺

I am also retired now and was a market research professional in high tech. I had been working abroad and came back right when desktop PCs were starting to show up on everyone's desk. I took a DOS class...I never want to be a programmer... but learned how a relational database works. I saw the potential with that technology. Convincing others of the value took a little patience. Now it is a given. Last year I discovered a glitch in my local providers tracking of covid data and got them to correct it.
The trick is to know where you want to go with the technology.

And allow me to take advantage of you for my own curiosity. I hear about EPIC that Mayo uses and other medical institutions use. I have been told that a doctor in one institution can then see your records in another institution that uses EPIC. But I also read that it is a lot of work for a doctor to be able to pull up your records in another institution. So how well is that really working?
MyChart will compare my reports done in the same clinic. But if I pull in reports from another clinic, it can't compare them. For example, I pulled in blood work reports from another clinic. But when I want to look at a table of values from both Mayo and the other clinics over a period of time, it won't do that.

I would like to help but I don't really know that. I get all of my healthcare done at Mayo so I never have records from another institution involved. Also I retired 13 years ago which was before Mayo started using Epic.
On retirement I went from having full access to everything I needed across many departments and locations to having no access to anything - not even my own data. The patient portal is a big improvement compared to just a few years ago.

@vic83 and @nonobaddog, I completely agree. My analytical side would love for all the reports to be easily compared, and somewhat standardized. I believe you'll generally see more standardization in breast imaging than in most other areas, partly due to regulatory requirements. The CT Chest, Abdomen, Pelvis reports cover a lot of the human body, and our complicated (IE. cancer filled) bodies aren't standard and don't always fit into the medical standard box either. I'm usually surprised to see some note about a condition that I don't think I have (diverticulitis was on the last set of scans, surprise!), I generally wait for the next scan to see if the radiologist notes the same findings. It's like scan roulette...what will they come up with next. After years of dealing with this I can shake it off, but I know it can be concerning for others.

By standardized I don't mean boiler plate. If the objective is to track change over time, then there must be agreement and rules on how to measure, track and report identified lesions and abnormalities. I am curious to know just how radiologists are approaching this.
Certainly, CT scans have different objectives and do focus on different parts of the body, but that is resolved with well-designed specific radiology practices.
I googled and came across some discussion on this.

Hi Merry, was relieved to see your post. I had a RUL lobectomy in Mar 2023 and recovered well. But was told post surgery, there were 3 nodules in the lobe remived and I have 3 other nodules in the left lung they are monitoring. I haven't met any one else that has multifocal diagnosis. It scared me as dr said chance of reoccurrence is higher. Thank you for sharing your strength! Best wishes on your treatment.

@balevine- Good morning. I'm sorry you have felt alone in this type of lung cancer. So did I. I thought that I was the only one! How pompous of me, eh? There are quite a few of us but we are not confined right now to just the group called, Multi-focal. We are scattered all over this site. "Things are a changin!

Please take a look at this
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/multifocal-adenocarcinoma-of-the-lung-continual-recurrences/

Merry

Hi Balevine. You are not alone. I have had two VAT surgeries in the last 20 months and am now looking at radiation on several others.