HANOVER, MD, April 12, 2007 – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has been named one of only five finalists in an international competition that singles out the best project by an organization.
The winner of the Franz Edelman competition will be announced at a special awards banquet during The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) Conference on O.R. Practice in Vancouver from April 29-May 1. http://meetings.informs.org/Practice07/
Every year, the Franz Edelman competition recognizes outstanding examples of Operations Research (O.R.)-based projects that have transformed companies, entire industries, and people’s lives. O.R. uses advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions and is a disciplined way by which management can improve organizational performance in a wide variety of situations, in nearly any type of organization in the public or private sector.
Past Franz Edelman winners have included the Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA), Motorola, Merrill Lynch, Canadian Pacific Railway, and IBM.
As the world's oldest and largest private cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) seeks next-generation cancer treatment advances to enhance its ability to treat patients effectively, both in terms of improved care and reduced cost.
Professor Eva K. Lee of the Georgia Institute of Technology submitted “Operations Research Answers to Cancer Therapeutics,” in collaboration with Sloan-Kettering.
Operations researchers working with Sloan-Kettering devised sophisticated optimization modeling and computational techniques to implement an intra-operative 3D treatment planning system for brachytherapy (the placement of radioactive “seeds” inside a tumor) that offers a safer and more reliable treatment.
The real-time intra-operative planning system eliminates pre-operation simulation and post-implant imaging analysis. Based on the range of costs of these procedures, Prof. Lee has estimated conservatively that their elimination nationwide could save on the order of $450 million a year for prostate cancer care alone.
As reported in a recent article by Dr. Michael Zelefsky and his colleagues at MSKCC “real-time intraoperative planning consistently achieved optimal coverage of the prostate with the prescription dose with concomitant low doses delivered to the urethra and rectum. Biochemical control outcomes were excellent at 5 years and late toxicity was unusual. These data demonstrate that real-time planning methods can consistently and reliably deliver the intended dose distribution to achieve an optimal therapeutic ratio between the target and normal tissue structures.”
Resulting reduction of complications (45-60%) due to plans that deliver less radiation to healthy structures improves the quality-of-life for patients, and has a profound impact on the cost for interventions to manage side-effects. Drs. Lee and Zaider also reported that the procedure uses significantly fewer seeds and needles compared to current best-practice procedures. Thus the procedure time is shortened and less invasive, and there is less blood loss. As a result, patients experience less pain and recover faster.
National distribution of this system will allow achievement of consistent treatment planning across different clinics, thus reducing the variability in the quality of treatment plans. The resulting plans limit urethral dose, decrease the operator-dependency, and reduce the influence of the learning curve associated with prostate brachytherapy. These all have important consequences for the outcome of treated patients.
The system allows for dynamic dose correction, thus helping the training of clinicians and residents to develop effective and safe treatment plans.
The Edelman competition will take place throughout the day at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver on Monday, April 30. The winner will be announced at a banquet in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton. The winner will be announced at the gala approximately 9:15 PM. A press release announcing the winner will be issued the next day, May 1.
The additional 2007 Franz Edelman finalists are:
- Coca-Cola, for a project entitled “Optimizing Distribution at Coca-Cola Enterprises”
- The U.S. Coast Guard, for “Maximizing Aircraft Availability by Managing Aircraft Maintenance Throughput at the U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Repair and Supply Center”
- Hewlett-Packard, for “Procurement Risk Management at Hewlett-Packard Company”
- DaimlerChrysler and J.D. Power for “PIN Incentive Planning System: A Decision Support System for Planning Automobile Manufacturers' Pricing and Promotions”
Additional information about the Edelman Competition is online at http://www.scienceofbetter.org/Edelman.
About INFORMS
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financial engineering, and telecommunications. The INFORMS website is www.informs.org. More information about operations research is at www.scienceofbetter.org.
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