FOLLOW Software
Supports Cancer Patient Follow-up

It is becoming increasingly important to improve the tumor marker information supplied to clinicians who treat cancer patients. To address this need, DPC recently decided to collaborate with a software development company to provide a solution for both laboratories and clinicians. FOLLOW software is a Windows®-based program that can plot graphs of tumor marker data accumulated during longitudinal follow-up of patients. In a simple, user-friendly way, it allows a considerable amount of patient data--including site of primary tumor and metastases, treatment regimes, and physician--to be incorporated in graphs and a database. The program is completely "open" and versatile, allowing the user to specify tumor types, select the markers to be used, highlight therapies and treatments, and define many other parameters. The program is easy to install, and can be downloaded from the internet for an evaluation period.

The opening screen gives access to all of the program's windows. The user can enter tumor markers together with the laboratory-defined upper limits of normal and the units in which each marker is reported. (See Figure 1.) Up to six different tumor markers used in patient follow-up can be plotted, all with reference to the upper limit of normal, for easy assessment of a combination of markers.

For an enlarged view, click on the image.

Other windows provide opportunities to enter possible treatments with appropriate abbreviations and colors for each. As seen in Figure 2, additional clinical information can be defined, such as the disease status at each time point.

Once information concerning the referring physician, patient (either name or identification number) and tumor marker results are input, the graphics display can be selected. (See Figure 3.) In this example, a breast cancer patient has been followed longitudinally over a 2-year period. Three tumor markers have been measured at each time point, and they have been plotted automatically by the program in relation to the user-defined upper limits of normal. In addition, the graph indicates the clinical status of the patient at each assessment (indicated by the abbreviations above the arrows). The color bars denote treatment regime and duration. Figure 4 shows several windows displayed simultaneously on screen, illustrating how powerful this program can be.

DPC is developing an export file for downloading data from the IMMULITE® 2000 immunoassay analyzer directly into the FOLLOW software. For more information on the FOLLOW software, or to to learn how to obtain a demo version, please contact your local DPC Sales Representative or National Distributor.