Entering edit mode
7.9 years ago
Eman
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0
Regarding melanoma, how do we determine the minimum amount of time that a patient is disease free for them to be considered low risk? We are attempting to do survival analysis on RNASeq data from melanoma patients.
We are at the stage where we need to adjust the threshold that dictates how long a "Disease Free" patient needs to be disease free to be considered a low risk case. Is 5 years a good parameter or is it too conservative? Please cite your sources in your response. Thank you!
Low risk for what ? I suppose you mean low risk of relapse. I think you should ask a clinician for a definite answer. It is common to see 5 years used in studies because I think this is when most relapses occur, at least for some cancers but this also depends on when and how the disease was treated. The CRUK web site has stats for melanoma in England that you may find useful. Have also a look at this American Cancer Society page.
By low risk, we mean death. Do you have any other papers that you can direct us to?
The American Cancer Society annual fact and figures report seems to be an authoritative source. Most papers I have seen have numbers for specific circumstances e.g. type of treatment.