Using visual analytics to inform rheumatoid arthritis patient choices

Individuals diagnosed with chronic diseases often face difficult, potentially life-altering, treatment decisions. Without sufficient knowledge, it can be difficult for a patient to make an informed decision. An essential element of medical care is educating the patient regarding disease outcomes and treatment options, thereby reducing feelings of uncertainty and increasing confidence in the resulting decision. It has been shown that incorporating decision aids (DAs) based on serious computer games into medical care can increase health knowledge and assist decision-making of patients with a variety of diseases. We discuss the benefits and challenges of using serious games as patient decision aids. We focus on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic disease that primarily affects the joints of the hand. We propose the use of serious games to enable RA patients to safely explore the uncertain effects of treatments through an avatar that performs common daily tasks, which are known to cause problems for RA patients, and experiences the side effects. We discuss the engineering challenges in building such a system and propose a data-driven approach using medical imagery to communicate the effects of the disease.