Benefits

The most important aspect of CytoBase is the benefits it will bring to women's health. These are more accurate diagnoses, earlier treatment of abnormalities and assurance that follow-up procedures will not be overlooked. It is anticipated that CytoBase will be a key component of a province wide cervical screening program that is under development by the Ontario Cervical Screening Collaborative Group and the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation.

Approximately half of the cases of cervical cancer occur in women who have not been adequately screened or screened at all. The follow-up protocol is expected to enhance awareness of the disease, its detection and treatment and thereby encourage women to have Pap tests done at the recommended intervals.

Improvements in the delivery of health care services will result, in part, from our ability to measure and analyze current practices and relate these to outcomes. Data emanating from CytoBase about collection methods, analytical techniques, treatment regimens and tracking protocols will serve as a foundation for research into better ways to detect and prevent this disease.

The storage of data in electronic format at low cost and the availability of powerful database engines has lead to the development of data warehouses, of which CytoBase is an example. CytoBase will collect and store the results of Pap tests and associated information when these are submitted from a variety of sources, primarily medical laboratories.

A significant achievement of this project is the implementation of a standardized nomenclature for Pap results. Regardless of source the data are converted to a common format prior to storage and may be retrieved in a wide variety of ways to create reports and answer specific questions.

The results of Pap tests submitted to CytoBase are linked to individual patients to form clinical records. These records are made available to pathologists so all previous results can be reviewed as each new test is interpreted. The availability of these records, which may span many years, is important because cancer of the cervix takes a long time to develop and minor changes over time have diagnostic importance.

A record linkage method ensures that, regardless of where the Pap test is performed, the results are associated with the correct individual and uncertainties in identification could be handled in an appropriate manner.

CytoBase is highly automated to achieve efficiencies and thereby make better use of the existing resources and as well save time for pathologists and physicians.