Monday, April 8, 2013

Cancer fighting Database

Posted by Brad Haymore

 
Imagine a database designed specifically to help doctors fight cancer.  CancerLinQ is that database, and its prototype has just emerged on the market. CancerLinQ will collect and analyze information from cancer care that is given to millions of patients.  The database will combine the information collected from patients, expert guidelines, and other evidence found to generate real-time guidance for doctors.  Doctors will be able to then receive quality feedback on how to help their personal patients.

CancerLinQ performs certain functions:


1)Real-time data collection,
2)Clinical decision support,
3)Data mining & visualization,
4)Quality feedback


Why is such a database needed? 

Today when a doctor encounters a problem he has never dealt with before, he goes to his literature for answers and will also asks his colleagues for advice.  With CancerLinQ, this same doctor could access the database and analyze real time findings in millions of patients.  The personal identity of patients would be removed in the database, but their life saving information would not. 

This is an innovative way that IT is helping to improve healthcare and medicine.  IT allows doctors to collaborate in ways that were unheard of before and to use their best practices to fight diseases such as cancer.  Innovations like this database could speed up the availability of real time data to doctors to use on problems they are facing today.  The timeliness of information in the fight of cancer is essential.  Good information available now is much better than great information available when it’s too late.


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2 comments:

  1. This is a MAJOR step in the right direction! With computers able to process tremendous amounts of data in nanoseconds, this is a great way to shift the focus a bit and perhaps see a leap in progress.

    Kokou Dansou

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  2. That is a great idea!It seems like this program will be a tremendous help to doctors, and cancer researchers could probably benefit from it as well.Also,the fact that information pertaining to the individual's identity is not entered appears to allow for a high level of anonymity. The blog says this program is a prototype. Any idea when the full fledged program will become available?

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