Context:

Psion of the times

http://www.thelancet.com/search/results?fieldName=Authors&searchTerm=Jayant%20S+Vaidya a, http://www.thelancet.com/search/results?fieldName=Authors&searchTerm=Michael+Baum a

Sir

D Shattuck-Eidens and coworkers1 use logistic regression analysis to evaluate the probability that a breast cancer patient carries a deleterious BRCA1 mutation. Their formula takes up half a column of JAMA. The utility of such a model could not have been imagined a few years ago, before the age of pocket computers. Using the “sheet” function of a Psion 3C palmtop computer we have been able to bring this knowledge to the clinic immediately.

The figure shows a computer screen with the patient's variables that need to be typed in. The last line immediately displays the risk of the proband carrying a harmful BRCA1 gene mutation. The risk for her worried daughter can be estimated by dividing this percentage by 2.

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http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)63623-9/fulltext