Utility of Access® in head and neck cancer database management and extraction

Abstract

It is difficult for clinicians to allocate sufficient time to both daily clinical practice and research activities. Our hospital uses a customized database tool, Access®. This is effective in improving the efficiency of clinical research and facilitating case selection. Furthermore, it is used in the malignant tumor registry of the Japanese Head and Neck Cancer Society. The process of extraction from the database allows searches by treatment period, age, and type of treatment, and the usefulness of this is demonstrated by presenting an actual search screen. We discuss the evolution of head and neck cancer treatment, the need for database management, and the advantages and disadvantages of Access®. Access® is excellent at database registration and extraction, and is useful for building a system could help reduce the burden on clinicians. It can also handle updates in head and neck cancer treatment in the future. We believe that the introduction of Access® at other medical institutions would assist further medical treatment and clinical research.