Construction and clinical application of prostate cancer database (PC-Follow) based on browser/server schema / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize the construction,upgrading process and clinical application of prostate cancer database (PC-Follow).Methods From September 2008 to December 2014,we designed two versions of off-line PC-Follow clinical databases based on Microsoft Access to support clinical follow-up and research in prostate cancer patients.Then,in order to achieve unified management of clinical data import and multi-center clinical research,we further upgraded PC-Follow to a browser/server (B/S) schema based web database.After upgrade,a simulated multi-center operation pattern was adopted to transfer all existed data-We then attempted to linkage our database with the hospital information system (HIS) and had eventually undertaken reality and stress testing on 3,124 cases'data migration in the hospital.The nationwide software testing and personnel training was conducted in 12 major medical centers.Results Twice of upgrade and alteration of schema of PC-Follow preserved the original user interface.Multiple functions,including data import,follow-up,research support,were obviously enhanced.Notably,the perfection in multi-user and hierarchical access control meet the future needs for multi-center clinical research.Via the import tool for PC-follow V3.0,we successfully migrated all data from the original one.After linking our database with the HIS software by one-way transmission protocol,the safety data extracting could be achieved.Specified administrators were appointed to process and analyze PC-Follow data in bulk,and data were voluntarily shared between attending centers,and showed stable performance on the 3,124 patients in our database.Feedback from nationwide multicenter training and testing indicated that our database was easy,readily accessible,with functionally stable modules,accurate website displays,and ideal response time.Conclusions The online PC-Follow database with hierarchical access provides support for multi-center clinical research in prostate cancer.The off-line PC-Follow database also grants certain degrees of data management for underdeveloped clinical centers,and it has its advantage to serve as prototypes for data migration to future online PC-Follow database once conditions are ripe.