Table 1 Scenarios for DCE
Scenario A: | Scenario B: |
|---|---|
Aggressive curable Cancer | Non-aggressive incurable Cancer |
Imagine that you have recently been diagnosed with a fast-acting but curable form of cancer. Currently, approximately 50 out of 100 (50%) of patients are cured after the first round of chemotherapy. If you are cured by this initial treatment, you will have a normal life expectancy; otherwise your life expectancy is approximately 1Â year. In this case you will be given the second round of chemotherapy but your chance of being cured is about 10 out of 100 (10%). | Imagine that you have recently been diagnosed with a slow-acting but incurable form of cancer. This means that the spread of the disease is usually slow, but treatments are only able to slow the spread further, and cannot cure the disease. Your life expectancy after being diagnosed with this type of cancer is approximately 10 to 13Â years. You will receive treatment after you start experiencing symptoms, which may take several years after your initial diagnosis. Even if your treatment is successful, you are likely to experience numerous relapses, in which the disease returns after a period of improvement. These relapses will be treated until all options for treatment have been exhausted. |
By adding a new medication to the first round of chemotherapy the cure rate increases from 50 out of 100 (50%) to 75 out of 100 (75%) . However, only some of individuals can benefit from the new medication (responders) and other individuals receive absolutely no benefit from adding the new medication to the standard chemotherapy (non-responders). | By adding a new medication to the first round of chemotherapy your life expectancy can be increased by 2Â years on average. However, only some of individuals can benefit from the new medication (responders) and other individuals receive absolutely no benefit from adding the new medication to the standard chemotherapy (non-responders). |
The downside of adding the new medication to the standard chemotherapy is that it increases the likelihood and severity of treatment side-effects. | The downside of adding the new medication to the standard chemotherapy is that it increases the likelihood and severity of treatment side-effects. |