Decision support systems for personalized and participative radiation oncology.

A paradigm shift from current population based medicine to personalized and participative medicine is underway. This transition is being supported by the development of clinical decision support systems based on prediction models of treatment outcome. In radiation oncology, these models 'learn' using advanced and innovative information technologies (ideally in a distributed fashion - please watch the animation: http://youtu.

Modern clinical research: How rapid learning health care and cohort multiple randomised clinical trials complement traditional evidence based medicine.

Background: Trials are vital in informing routine clinical care; however, current designs have major deficiencies. An overview of the various challenges that face modern clinical research and the methods that can be exploited to solve these challenges, in the context of personalised cancer treatment in the 21st century is provided.

Aim: The purpose of this manuscript, without intending to be comprehensive, is to spark thought whilst presenting and discussing two important and complementary alternatives to traditional evidence-based medicine, specifically rapid learning health care and cohort multiple randomised controlled trial design.