Cascade index - E-Index: universal efficiency metric

a unified approach to assessing real therapeutic efficiency

The Cascade index - E-Index Calculator is a cross-disciplinary analytical tool that quantifies real therapeutic efficiency for any disease or treatment modality — from antiviral and metabolic therapies to oncology and regenerative interventions. It enables comparative evaluation of different therapeutic methods within the same disease, integrating stage improvement, toxicity, recurrence risk, and survival gain into a single standardized metric.

The system is part of the broader scientific framework of Cascade Medicine — a unified hypothesis for system-level disease analysis and therapeutic sequencing in modern systemic medicine (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17184972).

The calculator will continue to evolve, integrating multi-model datasets, treatment benchmarking, and automated meta-analysis modules for comprehensive clinical decision support.

tool

Cascade index - E-Index Calculator

Batch Upload (Excel)

Upload your dataset to calculate Cascade index - E-Index automatically for multiple rows.

E = 0


Interpretation

  • E < 0 — harmful or counter-therapeutic effect (toxic or worsening)
  • 0 – 2 — minimal or supportive benefit (symptomatic only)
  • 2 – 5 — moderate therapeutic effect (partial disease control)
  • 5 – 7 — strong disease-modifying efficacy (functional remission)
  • E ≥ 7 — life-saving or curative outcome (complete or near-complete recovery)

Instruction

concise guide for using the Cascade index - E-Index calculator

How to Use

Adjust parameters using sliders (and manual fields where present). Click Calculate — the value animates to its target and the infographic reflects balanced bars for every parameter. You can compare different therapeutic approaches for the same disease to evaluate efficiency and systemic effect.

Interpretation

  • E < 0 — harmful or counter-therapeutic effect (toxic or worsening)
  • 0–2 — minimal or supportive benefit (symptomatic only)
  • 2–5 — moderate therapeutic effect (partial disease control)
  • 5–7 — strong disease-modifying efficacy (functional remission)
  • E ≥ 7 — life-saving or curative outcome (complete or near-complete recovery)

Formula

$$E = \Bigg[\,(B_0 - B_1 + C) - \log(1 + A + A_1 + M + P + \tfrac{ES}{10} + R) + (A_2 + S + \log(1 + LS + ((TS - T)\cdot H)))\Bigg] \times 1.132$$

Parameter Reference (compact)

B₀ — baseline disease stage before treatment (1–4) — within the context of the underlying condition
B₁ — post-treatment disease stage (0–4) — within the same clinical context
C — complete cure (1 = yes, 0 = no) — elimination of the diagnosis
T — treatment duration (0.1 per week)
TS — standard treatment duration per protocol
H — urgency weight (0 = not important; 0.5 = preferred; 1 = critical)

A — toxicity (CTCAE → decimal): 0 none; 0.1 mild; 0.2 moderate; 0.3 severe; 0.4 life-threatening; 1 fatal — caused by therapy or disease during the therapeutic / treatment course
A₁ — life-threatening deterioration (0 none; 1 yes) — represents ICU admission or vital threat caused by treatment or disease during the course
A₂ — alleviation of side effects / symptoms (0 none; 0.5 partial; 1 both) — occurring during or after the therapeutic / treatment course
M — mortality rate / 100 (treatment-related deaths)
P — permanent toxicity / irreversible effects (% / 100) — during or after therapy, remaining lifelong or for extended periods
R — recurrence risk (% / 100)
ES — ECOG Performance Status (0–5)
S — systemic support (0 none; 0.1 partial; 0.2 full)

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