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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yang, Everest, Vasishtha, Ria, Dad, Luqman K., Kachnic, Lisa A., Hope, Andrew, Wang, Eric, Wu, Xiao, Yuan, Yading, Brenner, David J., Shuryak, Igor
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06367
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author Yang, Everest
Vasishtha, Ria
Dad, Luqman K.
Kachnic, Lisa A.
Hope, Andrew
Wang, Eric
Wu, Xiao
Yuan, Yading
Brenner, David J.
Shuryak, Igor
author_facet Yang, Everest
Vasishtha, Ria
Dad, Luqman K.
Kachnic, Lisa A.
Hope, Andrew
Wang, Eric
Wu, Xiao
Yuan, Yading
Brenner, David J.
Shuryak, Igor
contents Causal machine learning (CML) enables individualized estimation of treatment effects, offering critical advantages over traditional correlation-based methods. However, existing approaches for medical survival data with censoring such as causal survival forests estimate effects at fixed time points, limiting their ability to capture dynamic changes over time. We introduce Causal Analysis for Survival Trajectories (CAST), a novel framework that models treatment effects as continuous functions of time following treatment. By combining parametric and non-parametric methods, CAST overcomes the limitations of discrete time-point analysis to estimate continuous effect trajectories. Using the RADCURE dataset [1] of 2,651 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as a clinically relevant example, CAST models how chemotherapy and radiotherapy effects evolve over time at the population and individual levels. By capturing the temporal dynamics of treatment response, CAST reveals how treatment effects rise, peak, and decline over the follow-up period, helping clinicians determine when and for whom treatment benefits are maximized. This framework advances the application of CML to personalized care in HNSCC and other life-threatening medical conditions. Source code/data available at: https://github.com/CAST-FW/HNSCC
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_06367
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CAST: Time-Varying Treatment Effects with Application to Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy on Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Yang, Everest
Vasishtha, Ria
Dad, Luqman K.
Kachnic, Lisa A.
Hope, Andrew
Wang, Eric
Wu, Xiao
Yuan, Yading
Brenner, David J.
Shuryak, Igor
Machine Learning
Causal machine learning (CML) enables individualized estimation of treatment effects, offering critical advantages over traditional correlation-based methods. However, existing approaches for medical survival data with censoring such as causal survival forests estimate effects at fixed time points, limiting their ability to capture dynamic changes over time. We introduce Causal Analysis for Survival Trajectories (CAST), a novel framework that models treatment effects as continuous functions of time following treatment. By combining parametric and non-parametric methods, CAST overcomes the limitations of discrete time-point analysis to estimate continuous effect trajectories. Using the RADCURE dataset [1] of 2,651 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as a clinically relevant example, CAST models how chemotherapy and radiotherapy effects evolve over time at the population and individual levels. By capturing the temporal dynamics of treatment response, CAST reveals how treatment effects rise, peak, and decline over the follow-up period, helping clinicians determine when and for whom treatment benefits are maximized. This framework advances the application of CML to personalized care in HNSCC and other life-threatening medical conditions. Source code/data available at: https://github.com/CAST-FW/HNSCC
title CAST: Time-Varying Treatment Effects with Application to Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy on Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06367