e-KRN+. Nationwide cancer database

An innovative, nationwide cancer database. 

The  e-KRN+ system offers a pioneering solution that makes it easier for experts to access and analyze oncology data. It also allows the effective management of knowledge about the disease, which affects more than one million Poles.

CLIENT

Oncological diseases are one of the most serious challenges modern medicine has to tackle. All information collected by doctors and experts in databases is invaluable in the constant battle against cancer. They make it possible to delineate new horizons of therapy and diagnostic directions. 

The National Cancer Registry is the first system in Poland to collect data on cancer cases. It also serves to share knowledge about the risk of malignant tumors in the country. The system is run by the National Cancer Institute on behalf of the Minister of Health. The registry is one of the crucial elements of national health policy. Data analysis simply helps save lives.

CHALLENGE

So far, the greatest challenge has been integrating all cancer data in one place. Thus far, doctors filled out oncology reports, which were later gathered in hospital and provincial databases. To allow conducting in-depth analyses nationwide, it was necessary to centralize the information. 

It was a launchpad for an idea of a digital platform that would allow stakeholders to access in-depth reports and summaries. The application would significantly support the everyday work of both oncologists and researchers looking for new methods of fighting cancer. 

The project is led by Gabos Software, with Direktpoint joining as a consortium member responsible for the new portal of the project.

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SOLUTION

The eKRN+ system makes it possible to amass all data from cancer registries in Poland in one place. The system enables consistent management of statistical knowledge about each type of cancer.

One of its key elements is the Central Registry Database. It is an advanced data powerhouse. The database accumulates all reported cancer cases. It also contains organ registries. Unified report forms allow the data flowing in from all over Poland to be reliable and ready for analysis. Gabos Software and other companies (SNT, I-Technologie) in the consortium are responsible for developing the data warehouse, SAS reports, HIS integrations, and the web system for medical professionals that fill in data to the system. In this phase, Direktpoint's responsibility was to come up with a new design, key visuals, and style guide for the new EKRN+ web system. 
 

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New portal

Our main focus was to create a new portal, the "window to the world" of the National Cancer Registry. It combines numerous components and is a complete set of tools used for analysis, creating reports, and accessing dedicated data. 

A proven and scalable technology was required to kick the project off. We decided to use Drupal 9  as a base platform – a handy tool that provides ease of expansion utilizing one consistent technology and integration with high-performance solutions. 

The site is abundant with a collection of studies on the epidemiology of malignant neoplasms. It also serves as a "Knowledge Base" on cancers of all types, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment methods. Current data and statistics from recent years are presented in a clear and visually appealing way, making it easy to compare them with each other.

Reports

The "Reports" section is an independent application (React), embedded in the portal and integrated with the eKRN+ system's data warehouse. It contains aggregated data on all types of cancer, which can be filtered by applying a number of parameters.  This allows the user to prepare detailed reports on cancer incidences and deaths in the country. It also makes it possible to observe time trends, broken down by gender and patient age, and to produce forecasts for specific areas of Poland. The work put into this sphere of the e-KRN+ project expands the possibilities for professionals dealing with this type of data.

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The system also facilitates the work of medical entities that need access to even more specialized reports from the KRN or detailed so-called "sensitive" data. This process is effected through the CMS and its internal workflow system. 

The portal meets WCAG 2.1 requirements and has been thoroughly inspected by an independent auditor with a final score of 95%. 

END RESULT

Thanks to the integration of the platform with hospital systems, it is possible to collect and present data more efficiently, as well as to conduct scientific, medical, and economic analyses based on information collected in the National Cancer Registry. By working on real data, it will be much easier to evaluate a given therapy. The Polish National Cancer Registry database contains the highest number of described cancer cases compared to all other databases of this sort in European countries. 

E-KRN+ has been a challenging and compelling project. We, at Direktpoint, are thrilled with the experience.

OUR CHECKLIST

• Key visuals and style guide of the eKRN+ system
• Mock-ups & design of the web portal
• Drupal 9 - CMS technology for the portal
• High-performance real-time API between the data warehouse and portal
• Reports web application (React) integrated with the CMS.
• Implementation of the portal (ca. 700 subpages)

Deployment time frame: 24 months

Client: Gabos Software, National Cancer Registry

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