RaySearch Laboratories AB and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have entered into a long-term partnership to develop the RayCare oncology information system (OIS). USCF will have access to the technology to treat its patients and will also provide feedback to further its development.

“There is a strong need for a new approach to information management within cancer care," Dr. Catherine Park, professor in residence and chair of the department of radiation oncology at UCSF, said in a statement. "The Radiation Oncology department is a natural place to start this development since we are involved in cancer treatment for virtually all types of cancer."

RayCare works by supporting complex procedures and analyses that current information management systems are unable to. UCSF is currently working on genomics and big data projects with the aim to better understand cancer and cancer care.

The goal of the partnership is to develop a way for the data infrastructure to be used for clinical decision support and personalized cancer care within radiation oncology. If the data is effectively structured, then the tools that analyze big data can help identify the relationships between genomic profile, delivered dose, and outcome.

RaySearch believes that once it is fully developed, RayCare will become an important component in collecting and structuring treatment and follow-up data and allow for the gathering of data and analysis using other systems.

Traditionally, hundreds of steps are required to be performed by several different specialists to deliver cancer treatment. It's important that RayCare provides the specialists with the right amount of information in an intelligible way so they can take necessary action with minimal effort.

The company is also developing RayCare so that it can optimize the use of resources in a facility including treatment machines, accessories, imaging systems and members of the care team. The treatment technique, target localization, and treatment delivery system that is chosen determine what resources are required, and also influences the quality of the treatment plan.

"Already today, Radiation Oncology has a very complex flow of information, which is difficult to manage with current systems," Park said in a statement. "Our goal is to find a system that will provide higher efficiency in our clinic and enable us to support future initiatives within adaptive radiation therapy and precision medicine that would otherwise be impossible."

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