A system for sharing routine surgical pathology specimens across institutions: the Shared Pathology Informatics Network.
This report presents an overview for pathologists of the development and potential applications of a novel Web enabled system allowing indexing and retrieval of pathology specimens across multiple institutions. The system was developed through the National Cancer Institute's Shared Pathology Informatics Network program with the goal of creating a prototype system to find existing pathology specimens derived from routine surgical and autopsy procedures ("paraffin blocks") that may be relevant to cancer research. To reach this goal, a number of challenges needed to be met. A central aspect was the development of an informatics system that supported Web-based searching while retaining local control of data. Additional aspects included the development of an eXtensible Markup Language schema, representation of tissue specimen annotation, methods for deidentifying pathology reports, tools for autocoding critical data from these reports using the Unified Medical Language System, and hierarchies of confidentiality and consent that met or exceeded federal requirements. The prototype system supported Web-based querying of millions of pathology reports from 6 participating institutions across the country in a matter of seconds to minutes and the ability of bona fide researchers to identify and potentially to request specific paraffin blocks from the participating institutions. With the addition of associated clinical and outcome information, this system could vastly expand the pool of annotated tissues available for cancer research as well as other diseases.
Drake
Thomas A
TA
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA Medical Center, avid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Braun
Jonathan
J
Marchevsky
Alberto
A
Kohane
Isaac S
IS
Fletcher
Christopher
C
Chueh
Henry
H
Beckwith
Bruce
B
Berkowicz
David
D
Kuo
Frank
F
Zeng
Qing T
QT
Balis
Ulysses
U
Holzbach
Ana
A
McMurry
Andrew
A
Gee
Connie E
CE
McDonald
Clement J
CJ
Schadow
Gunther
G
Davis
Mary
M
Hattab
Eyas M
EM
Blevins
Lonnie
L
Hook
John
J
Becich
Michael
M
Crowley
Rebecca S
RS
Taube
Sheila E
SE
Berman
Jules
J
D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D014015:Tissue Banks; D014481:United States