RDS 286: Case 1: Clinical Case: Young man with Hodgkin’s disease

Survival for each strategy

Define probabilities
Probablities of being in each stage.

stage.probabilities <- c(IIA = 0.8, IIIA1 = 0.15, IIIA2 = 0.05)

5-year survival probabilities given radiotherapy (RT) or optimal therapy.

survival.with.RT <- c(IIA = 0.92, IIIA1 = 0.8, IIIA2 = 0.7)
survival.with.optimal.Tx <- c(IIA = 0.92, IIIA1 = 0.9, IIIA2 = 0.85)

Probability of complication from laparotomy.

laparotomy.complication.probability <- 0.005

Calculate expected 5-year survival probability for radiotherapy without laparotomy strategy.
Element-by-element multiplication, then summation.

stage.probabilities * survival.with.RT
##   IIA IIIA1 IIIA2 
## 0.736 0.120 0.035 
expected.survival.no.laparotomy <- sum(stage.probabilities * survival.with.RT)
expected.survival.no.laparotomy
## [1] 0.891

Calculate expected 5-year survival probability for for laparotomy-then-optimal therapy strategy.
Element-by-element multiplication, summation, then multiplication by no complication probability.

stage.probabilities * survival.with.optimal.Tx
##    IIA  IIIA1  IIIA2 
## 0.7360 0.1350 0.0425 
expected.survival.laparotomy <- sum((stage.probabilities * survival.with.optimal.Tx)) * 
    (1 - laparotomy.complication.probability)
expected.survival.laparotomy
## [1] 0.9089

a. Utility of diagnostic laparotomy
As 0.9089 > 0.891, performing laparotomy to accurately stage the patient's disease the worth the risk, and increases the expected 5-year survival of the patient.

b. Oneway sensitivity analysis for operative mortality

If laparotomy had no risk, the expected survival from the laparotomy-first strategy would be 0.9135. Let \( X \) be the value of complication probability at which both strategies have the same expected survival, then 0.9135 * (1 - X) = 0.891. Thus, X = 1 - 0.891 / 0.9135 = 0.0246. Therefore, if the complication probability is less than 2.46%, the laparotomy-first strategy is more beneficial.

Expected survival in two strategies given a range of operative mortality

sequence.of.complication.probabilities <- seq(from = 0, to = 1, by = 0.001)

laparotomy.complication.probability <- sequence.of.complication.probabilities
expected.survival.laparotomy.seq <- sum((stage.probabilities * survival.with.optimal.Tx)) * 
    (1 - laparotomy.complication.probability)

survival.probabilities <- data.frame(laparotomy.compl.probab = rep(laparotomy.complication.probability, 
    2), group = rep(c("no laparotomy", "laparotomy"), c(1001, 1001)), survival = c(rep(expected.survival.no.laparotomy, 
    1001), expected.survival.laparotomy.seq))

ggplot(survival.probabilities) + geom_line(aes(x = laparotomy.compl.probab, 
    y = survival, color = group)) + scale_x_continuous(name = "Probability of complication from laparotomy", 
    limits = c(0, 0.2)) + scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0.5, 1))

plot of chunk unnamed-chunk-7

By looking at data:

library(reshape)
survival.probabilities.cast <- cast(data = survival.probabilities, 
    formula = laparotomy.compl.probab ~ group, value = "survival")

survival.probabilities.cast <- within(survival.probabilities.cast, 
    {
        higher <- laparotomy > `no laparotomy`
        higher <- factor(higher, levels = c("FALSE", "TRUE"), labels = c("no laparotomy", 
            "laparotomy"))
    })

survival.probabilities.cast[20:30, ]
##    laparotomy.compl.probab laparotomy no laparotomy        higher
## 20                   0.019     0.8961         0.891    laparotomy
## 21                   0.020     0.8952         0.891    laparotomy
## 22                   0.021     0.8943         0.891    laparotomy
## 23                   0.022     0.8934         0.891    laparotomy
## 24                   0.023     0.8925         0.891    laparotomy
## 25                   0.024     0.8916         0.891    laparotomy
## 26                   0.025     0.8907         0.891 no laparotomy
## 27                   0.026     0.8897         0.891 no laparotomy
## 28                   0.027     0.8888         0.891 no laparotomy
## 29                   0.028     0.8879         0.891 no laparotomy
## 30                   0.029     0.8870         0.891 no laparotomy

c. EVCI of diagnostic laparotomy

The expected value of clinical information (EVCI) is by definition the difference between the averated-out outcome value with the test and the averaged-out outcome value without the test (Hunink, 2001, page 173). Thus, it is expected survival of laparotomy-first stragegy - expected survival of no-laparotomy strategy = 0.0179 (net EVCI). If no risk of laparotomy is considered, it is 0.0225 (gross EVCI).


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