Symptomics

Functional genomics enables new pathways for precision medicine and  truly personalized cancer care This positive development has not reduced the value of physical signs and symptoms in diagnosing a cancer disease. Patient-reported outcomes data are increasingly used as endpoints in clinical trials and practice in cancer care, with a broad scope as easy-to-use online applications support registering health-related and life-style data. Symptoms are also shown to have prognostic value and can be used in monitoring cancer disease for detection of disease progress that prompt action. Consequently, symptomics should be viewed as on par with other omics, indeed seen as an extension of omics, and included in multi-omics studies to extend their scope in addition to genetic and biological markers. There is convincing evidence in recent literature that using symptom information will bring benefits to prevention, diagnostics, planning treatment, assessing treatment effects, and the follow-up of patients. 

The Symptomics taskforce is presently engaged in the following research projects:

A replication of an RCT that showed the value of symptom monitoring by patients as a prolonged survival. The trial recruits participants at Karolinska University Hospital, Akademiska Hospital, Uppsala, and Gävle hospital.

Symptom registration by patients with advanced prostate cancer prior to scheduled visits to their attending oncologist. The aim is to explore whether this will increase awareness among the oncologists and lead to promptly addressing the symptoms and initiate symptom reducing interventions.

Designing a symptom monitoring tool for brain tumour patients focusing on symptoms with proven prognostic value. The tool will incorporate algorithms raising red flags and triggering prompt responses from oncology care providers. A prototype is under design and will be tested for usability, introduced into clinical practice and properly evaluated by a future clinical trial.

Taskforce members:

Eskil Degsell, citizen scientist, vice-chair, Swedish Brain Tumour Association, and patient and next-of-kin liaison, Theme Neuro, Karolinska University Hospital

Mats Brommels, professor em of medical management, principal investigator of the Forte-funded Co-care research programme, Karolinska Institutet

Jiri Bartek, associate professor, consultant in neurosurgery, Karolinska University Hospital