PHILADELPHIA (January 11, 2019) — Readily available administrative databases are a cost-effective tool for investigating treatments for non-prostate genitourinary cancer and identifying research gaps and novel therapies, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported in the 2018 edition of the journal Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations.
The researchers, led by Alexander Kutikov, MD, FACS, chief of the Division of Urology and Urologic Oncology at Fox Chase, focused on finding comparative effectiveness research (CER) data about non-prostate genitourinary malignancies, such as renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, upper tract urothelial carcinoma, testicular cancer, and adrenal cancer.
Resources such as National Cancer Database (NCDB) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database (SEER) are large-volume, prospectively maintained administrative clinical datasets that include claims data and are based on billing, procedural, and diagnosis codes, making it possible to glean CER insights more effectively.
Kutikov noted in the article that CER data is, “imperative for objective and balanced assessment of treatment outcomes.” When administrative databases are used to conduct CER, the resulting large-scale data analyses can, “potentially transcend limitations of small institutional datasets,” and be more cost-effective for researchers.
Prior to this review, prostate cancer was the primary focus of researchers using these larger administrative databases. The Fox Chase team’s goal was to review the currently available AD-CER research into treatments of non-prostate genitourinary cancers and produce summaries of CER objectives and outcomes.
“Given the costs and logistical barriers to obtaining high quality level I data, CER will continue to play a role in establishing fiscally efficient, outcome-based patient-centered care as clinical oncologic landscapes rapidly change,” Kutikov wrote.