Research project

Soton Breast Cancer Data System

  • Status:
    Not active

Project overview

The Southampton Breast Cancer Data System is a first in class exemplar of a new generation of clinical data systems for the study of cancer or other chronic diseases of childhood and adulthood, in which the clinical documentary evidence base is built directly into the individual cancer or disease record.

The system has been conceived and populated by David Rew, working in an agile and iterative process since 2012 with Alan Hales as systems consultant and programming lead, and with David Cable as the implementation lead for the UHS IT service.

SBCDS is a html-enabled web system within the UHS Clinical Data Estate. It has a number of unique features, in that:
- It incorporates the University Hospital Southampton (UHS) Lifelines Electronic Patient record (EPR) interface with every clinical record
- It includes a "Master Lifetrack" for each patient. This displays the Episodes or Phases of disease progression of each case as time points through primary diagnosis; locoregional recurrence; emergence of distant metastases; other cancer diagnoses; and the current clinical status, including the cause of death where relevant.
- It includes a data science module which allows pathological, treatment, demographic and outcome parameters to be selected and analysed by a wide range of variables.

As of July 2021, the system contained individual records of more than 20,000 locally treated patients. Its richly validated digital records date back to 1990.

The system is in daily use as digital foundation of the Southampton Breast Service, and it is undergoing continuous development for additional functionality

Research outputs