A template for generic asssessment of tumor response: "myRECIST".

Abstract

e14149 Background: Oncologists often need an objective, quantitative assessment of a patient's response to therapy. Lacking a standardized format, the oncologist may request a RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) analysis. RECIST, however, was developed to provide standardized assessment in the context of randomized clinical trials. RECIST is based on the prospective analysis of a limited sample of tumor lesions or lymph nodes, whereas the clinician naturally makes clinical decisions retrospectively. Furthermore, RECIST has definitions, rules, and criteria for classifying responses that may not apply in the clinical setting, and it does not include consistent rules for merging or splitting lymph nodes, mixed tumor responses, lesions that may cavitate, and a wide range of individualistic responses encountered in clinical practice. Methods: To address these issues, we have modified our working Excel-based template for RECIST 1.1 assessment to include a "myRECIST" feature, so that the radiologist can enter data and examine a range of pre-defined or customizable scenarios, including RECIST1.1, iRECIST, Lugano, volumetric and other parametric protocols. With a few interactions, this template can produce exportable tables and graphs of tumor responses that can guide therapy, as shown in the attached image. Definitions are standardized and linked to RADLEX ontology for specificity and subsequent analysis. Results: This template has been developed for clinical use and is available for downloading from our institutional web-site. Conclusions: We have developed, for public use, a free, easy-to-use, down-loadable Excel template for evaluating prospective or retrospective scenarios of tumor response to therapy that avoids the restrictions of the RECIST methodology. This template may prove useful to oncologists both in and out of the context of randomized clinical trials. We call this "myRECIST."