Computer databases for the sentinel lymph node program

Abstract

At the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, a computer database system was created using the FileMaker Pro database program. The system allows the clinical team to bring together data from all aspects of a multidisciplinary effort toward improving daily clinical management, for research, and ultimately, for the clinical standard of care for melanoma patients. With modest objectives during the initiation of the database, its adaptability has allowed it to become an integral link in all the efforts of the melanoma program. For the future, tapping into the immense potential of the Internet has begun to organize multicenter efforts. Through nationwide collaboration, the Sentinel Lymph Node Working Group will be able to follow, on a larger scale, the successes of the FileMaker pro database at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.