Software may help spot cancer risk A NEW computer program can alert family doctors when they need to send patients for cancer tests. Doctors say the software can determine a patient's risk of having certain types of cancer based on their symptoms. As well as knowing what risk a single symptom, such as a persistent cough, might carry, the computer program also automatically alerts doctors when it recognises a combination of symptoms. For instance, if a patient visits their practitioner complaining of nausea and returns three weeks later with difficulty swallowing, the program detects that the patient could be at risk of oesophageal cancer. The software, called electronic Cancer Decision Support, also compares symptoms against other factors, such as whether the person smokes or is an ex-smoker. The program, presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool, England, can estimate cancer risk for oesophago-gastric, lung, colorectal, pancreatic and ovarian cancers, researchers say. While the software is still in the testing phase of the trial, the researchers hope that eventually it could be made available to all GPs. "We hope that this new computer program will prove useful and effective in helping GPs make decisions about when to send their patients for further tests based on cancer risks," said University of Exeter Professor Willie Hamilton, one of the researchers upon whose work the tool is based. Despite the fact that more than one in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime, cancer cases are still relatively unusual occurrences for GPs to encounter during their day-to-day practice. We've designed a system that doesn't replace their knowledge or training, but could be used alongside their notes to give extra information.