Cancer Informatics

Cancer Informatics chronicles the development of the National Cancer Institute's new Cancer Informatics Infrastructure (CII) - an information management system infrastructure designed to faciliate clinical trials, provide for reliable, secure information exchange, and improve patient care. The book details the challenges involved in creating and managing such a knowledge base, including technologies, standards, and current, state-of-the-art applications.
The ultimate goal of CII is to function as an enabler of clinical trials, expediting the clinical trials lifecycle, faciliating faster and safer drug development and more appropriate treatment choices for cancer patients. Contributors address the role the CII must play in converting the growing knowledge of genes, proteins, and pathways into appropriate preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic measures. Presented in four sections, the first provides an overview of the processes involved in moving the infrastructure for cancer from theory into practice. Sections two through four offer the latest work done in the areas of technology, cancer-specific and national standards, and applications to faciliate clinical trials.

From the reviews:

"People running cancer trials should read this book. It is about the US National Cancer Institute’s plans to ‘liberate cancer trials from paper’. ... The chapters were written by leading US experts. The content is detailed, technical, and surprisingly well-written. They give a clear vision of how cancer trials are likely to develop over the next 20 years. This book is informative, interesting, and ... enjoyable." (M Stockler, Cancer Forum, Vol. 27 (3), 2003)