Estimating Unknown Transition Times Using a Piecewise Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Model in Men with Prostate Cancer
用分段非线性混合效应模型估计前列腺癌患者的未知转变时间
It may be clinically useful to know when prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels first begin to rise rapidly and to determine if the natural history of PSA progression is different in men with locally confined prostate cancers compared to men with metastatic tumors. This article uses a nonlinear mixed-effects model to describe longitudinal changes in PSA in men before their prostate cancers were detected clinically. Repeated measurements of PSA are available for 18 subjects…