Proceedings Article | 16 February 2012
KEYWORDS: Particles, Picture Archiving and Communication System, Data storage, Imaging systems, Ions, Analytical research, Radiation oncology, Computer security, Databases, Statistical analysis
Conducting clinical studies is rather difficult because of the large variety of voluminous datasets, different documentation
styles, and various information systems, especially in radiation oncology. In this paper, we describe
our development of a web-based documentation system with first approaches of automatic statistical analyses
for transnational and multicenter clinical studies in particle therapy. It is possible to have immediate access
to all patient information and exchange, store, process, and visualize text data, all types of DICOM images,
especially DICOM RT, and any other multimedia data. Accessing the documentation system and submitting
clinical data is possible for internal and external users (e.g. referring physicians from abroad, who are seeking
the new technique of particle therapy for their patients). Thereby, security and privacy protection is ensured
with the encrypted https protocol, client certificates, and an application gateway. Furthermore, all data can be
pseudonymized. Integrated into the existing hospital environment, patient data is imported via various interfaces
over HL7-messages and DICOM. Several further features replace manual input wherever possible and ensure data
quality and entirety. With a form generator, studies can be individually designed to fit specific needs. By including
all treated patients (also non-study patients), we gain the possibility for overall large-scale, retrospective
analyses. Having recently begun documentation of our first six clinical studies, it has become apparent that the
benefits lie in the simplification of research work, better study analyses quality and ultimately, the improvement
of treatment concepts by evaluating the effectiveness of particle therapy.
