Question

Two different chemotherapy regimens can be used for the treatment of breast cancer. The treatment with doxorubicin is known to show a remission rate 40% of the time. This treatment costs $1,000. The other treatment, with docetaxel, shows a remission rate 25% of the time and costs $850. The two treatment plans are as follows:

Plan A: Treatment with doxorubicin—if not effective, treatment with docetaxel.
Plan B: Treatment with docetaxel—if not effective, treatment with doxorubicin.

If you are the patient, which statement is the best choice? PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

i never was good at these subjective problems ... i recall that expected value is mean times cost if you want to weigh the respective dollar amounts for paying for an ineffective treatment

Answer 2

is there any type of formula like standard deviation or somethin like that

Answer 3

.25(850) = 212.50

.40(1000) = 400.00

but im not sure if the standard error we did on the last one would be useful or not .... since we dont have a sample size

Answer 4

A.
Based on the probability of overall remission rate, plan A should be selected over plan




B.
Based on the probability of overall remission rate, plan B should be selected over plan




C.
Based on the cost of the first treatment alone, plan A should be selected over plan B.




D.
Based on the overall cost of treatment, plan B should be selected over plan A.




E.
Based on the probability of survival rate and the cost of treatment, both plans are equivalent, so either can be selected.

Answer 5

The answers dont even have numbers in them...

Answer 6

does that mean that the one that cost 1000$ would be less effective since it cost more money

Answer 7

to me, E is not accurate since they have different expectation values

Answer 8

docetaxel is plan B and it cost less so wouldnt it be D

Answer 9

as a patient, you would prolly care more about success rate then cost.

Answer 10

this reminds me of those type 1 or 2 error things

Answer 11

i never realy thought about that, thats true

Answer 12

my opinion is: as a patient with cancer, you would want the one with the best success rate. But i cant guarentee that as the correct option on a test or quiz :)

Answer 13

its alright, i'd rather have your opinion than mine, ive failed this semester exam like 5 times already lol

Answer 14

as a money pinching old man ... try the cheap one first, if you win yay, if not ... dole out for the other one ;)

Answer 15

alright thank you (:

Answer 16

good luck

Answer 17

to calculate the expected cure rate for both plans use the equation:
prob of cure for plan a= p(a cured it)+(b cured it)*(a didnt cure it)
prob of cure for plan b= p(b cured it)+(a cured it)*(b didnt cure it)

to calculate the expected cost of the plans use
expected cost of a= cost(a)+cost(b)*(a didnt cure it)
expected cost of b= cost(b)+cost(a)*(b didnt cure it)

i know this question was asked 2 years ago but this is for those who r like me and just google questions and just so happen to find this one