Using PBCs to Evaluate Changes in PSA Levels

Here is a journal article that was co-authored by Donald J. Wheeler, PhD and Albert Pfadt:

Single Subject Studies in Prostate Cancer: How graphing PSA test results and testosterone levels using Process Behavior and Celeration Charts can provide insight and guide clinical decisions

From the abstract:

“Process Behavior Charts and Celeration Charts provide effective ways to visualize the clinical status of a patient with prostate cancer and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments. Process Behavior Charts allow a definitive answer to the question of whether a change has occurred in spite of the variability of the PSA values, and when changes are occurring the Celeration Chart provides an easy estimate of the rate of growth. Both of these graphic techniques help in the overall understanding of the status of a patient at risk for prostate cancer by placing current PSA values in the context of the history of that patient.”

Here is a Process Behavior Chart from the article… I’ve stitched together the “baseline” chart that illustrates the calculated Natural Process Limits and the next two weeks that show “signals” (seeing data points above the upper limit). In the baseline chart, PSA was just fluctuating around an average (we could call this “noise”).

It seems like this would be helpful analysis of clinical data.