UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Computers are ubiquitous in our daily lives. The penetration of computers into medical practices continues to increase in part because of declining prices, increase capacity, speed and functionality. The increasing availability of portable computers, wireless networks, and broadband connections is making the Internet more available in clinical settings. We will describe Internet-based resources useful in clinical practice and education.

Decision making tools:

Some of the most challenging patient discussions involve treatment options. The concept of relative risks, absolute benefit, and relative benefit are often not easily conveyed without the use of sketches, survival curves, and percentages. The ready availability of risk calculators and the graphical presentation of their results can facilitate these discussions. We will illustrate tools for breast cancer, colon cancer, and sarcoma as illustrations of the utility of these tools for decision making.

Professional education and teaching tools:

Most major clinical journals provide access for “fair use” of their original articles, features, editorials, and other print material online. Most also publish important research manuscripts online ahead of the print date. Slides of the figures from research articles are also often available for downloading in Microsoft PowerPoint format for educational purposes. Users of the slides are expected to maintain the citation displayed on the slide to credit the authors appropriately. As an example, The Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) provides abstracts and full text articles as well as figures and tables from the articles.

The ASCO's website , www.asco.org, is unique with access to the world's premier source of oncology-related education and research content, that is peer created and reviewed encompassing the breadth and depth of oncology. The 2006 redesign of the web site features disease-specific portal pages which will serve as cancer type home pages. The web site now features enhanced search capabilities through the use of Vivísimo, a search engine that produces a hierarchical grouping of search results that contain related content.

The redesigned web site improves access to the ASCO's meetings, which are preserved as “Virtual Meeting.” The Virtual Meetings use web cast technology to capture PowerPoint presentations and the audio content available in Real Player or Windows Media Player format, or in a slide only format. Direct links to the associated abstract, its PubMed citation and those of related topics and publications of the authors, and the manuscript from the ASCO Educational Book in PDF format are also provided. In addition, scientific abstracts presented as posters are also available in a PowerPoint format. The Virtual Meeting on the web provide immediate and enduring availability of more than 25,000 oral presentations, abstracts, and posters from ASCO's annual and other meetings dating back to 1999.

People Living With Cancer, www.PLWC.org, is ASCO's award-winning patient information website. PLWC.org provides accurate, reliable, oncologist-approved information to help patients and families make informed health-care decisions based on the latest changes in standards of care. PLWC content is developed by a 120 member Editorial Board of world-wide thought leaders. PLWC's web site differs from other online sources of cancer information, because the content is the product of a formal peer-review process by the ASCO member content expert editorial board. Physician should encourage to refer patients to www.PLWC.org web site for PLWC Guides to for Managing Side Effects, Coping Resources, Medical Illustration Gallery, Clinical Trials Information, Ask the ASCO Expert Events, and ASCO's Patient Resource Publications.