Monterey, CA Massive Cancer Database Being Developed For Researchers

View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California I have written many times on my blog about the importance of research projects which are now being conducted in many areas using huge databases of medical records which sometimes cover millions of people over decades.  New efforts in these areas seem to hit the headlines frequently, and the latest project could help find cures for many types of cancers.  The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASC), a non-profit professional association is unveiling plans to develop a massive database on the care of hundreds of thousands of cancer patients which would allow for searches with the same simplicity google now does.  Researchers complain that in about 95% of the 1.6 million cancer cases each year, health records are in disparate places and sometimes on paper and never are found.  "There is a treasure trove of information inside those cases if we simply bring them together," Allen Lichter, CEO of ASCO told the Wall Street Journal.  Fortunately, the ASCO said they have developed software which can accept clinical information from almost any electronic health record.  Their prototype has already collected 100,000 breast-cancer records from 27 different oncology groups using a variety of electronic record-keeping systems.  This is a huge leap forward in technology and given how big the market is, I'm surprised google didn't come out with a similar product as the CancerLinQ system developed by the ASCO.  We wish the ASCO good luck with their efforts.  Many physicians, hospitals and other medical groups are struggling with the conversion to electronic health records.  It is not an easy task.