PIONEERing improved healthcare for individuals with prostate cancer: a milestone as two datasets are uploaded to the big data platform
Erasmus University Medical Centre (Rotterdam, Netherlands) has uploaded the first two datasets to the Prostate cancer dIagnOsis and treatmeNt Enhancement through the power of big data in EuRope (PIONEER) big data platform.
In an important first step, Erasmus University Medical Centre (Rotterdam, Netherlands) researchers have uploaded the first two datasets to the Prostate cancer dIagnOsis and treatmeNt Enhancement through the power of big data in EuRope (PIONEER) big data platform, which seeks to derive insight from the analysis of real-world evidence to improve the healthcare of individuals with prostate cancer.
The datasets — from the Prostate cancer Research International Active Surveillance (PRIAS) study and the European Randomised study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) — represent two of the largest, most established datasets concerning individuals with prostate cancer in Europe.
Initiated in 2006, the PRIAS study now represents the largest study of active surveillance for individuals with low-risk prostate cancer in the world; the study was conceived to guide evidence-based recommendations on how to select and follow men with prostate cancer on active surveillance by providing real-world evidence on this population of individuals. Data on more than 8000 individuals from 120 centers across 18 countries are recorded in the PRIAS study dataset.
The ERSPC study represents the largest randomized study — involving 184,000 individuals across eight countries — investigating the effects of regular prostate-specific antigen screening on patient survival.
Further datasets to be uploaded into the big data platform by additional PIONEER partner organizations have been identified and primed for mapping. These include the Malmö Preventative Project and the Malmö Diet Cancer dataset, provided by Lund University (Lund, Sweden). These datasets comprise information on 22,444 men and 53,000 participants respectively.
These data will allow PIONEER investigators to begin researching the tumor- and patient-specific variables that affect the prognosis of prostate cancer patients who are eligible to receive active surveillance.
Up to another 22 anonymized datasets are ready for contribution by further partners of PIONEER. It is hoped that such transparent, open data sharing will prompt additional private and public data owners to contribute data to the platform and, ultimately, improve the healthcare of individuals with prostate cancer.
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