2005 Scientific Session Abstracts
Interfacing a Modern Cancer Research Database with Legacy Medical Information Systems in a Military Environment
Buddle, Miguel, BS 2; Rafati, David, BS 1; Vatanian, Negin, BS 2; Reb, Anne, MS 2; Lee, Diane, MS 2; Mahr, William, MS 2; Crothers, Barbara, OD 1; Potter, John, MD 2; Brissette, Mark, MD 1; Ghias, Asghar, PhD 3; Haddad, Maram, BA 2; Marrogi AJ, MD (aizen.marrogi@na.amedd.army.mil) 1 1Department of Pathology and Area Laboratory Services, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC; 2United States Military Cancer Institute, Washington, DC; 3Data Access Technologies, Washington, DC.
Context: Human tissue banks at local, regional and national levels are increasingly used as a source of biological samples for biomedical research. The United States Military Cancer Institute, an organization created to advance cancer research throughout the Department of Defense, is establishing a tissue bank system in support of military cancer research. Once the system, named the Biospecimen Network, is created, its database, ARIA, will house cancer risk and dietary data obtained from patient interviews, patient-administered questionnaires as well as laboratory, histopathologic and radiological data from the banked tissue and related biological specimens. The wide availability of these specimens and related data will contribute greatly to the understanding of cancer biology, diagnosis and therapeutics.
Technology: In this document, the obstacles and challenges of creating the necessary interfaces from ARIA to legacy military medical information systems are explored, including the use and limitations of the original data in the legacy systems, the issues of data ownership and access, as well as the difficulty of establishing an automated routine for data extraction. Secure methods of transferring private health information are discussed, including HL7 2.X and HL7 XML.
Design: Three systems are examined; a military hierarchical database from which medical laboratory result text will be extracted; a military radiology system which holds large digital images; and a relational database holding follow-up and diagnostic information maintained by a non-military vendor. The technical and political challenges of interface to each separate system are described.
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