The Information System of Experimental Pathology of the German Cancer Research Center

The information system of experimental oncopathology of the German Cancer Research Center is a computerized data processing program for studying the etiology, pathogenesis and therapy of experimental cancer. This program is adapted to correlate stored data with those from the thesaurus of human pathology. The system is developed and administered by the histodiagnostic facility which serves to collect and register standardized, centralized and current data from all sources. These are: individual investigators, animal laboratory, and central histodiagnostic facility. To record uniform data, a standardized protocol is introduced which entails data sets for information about animals, substances under study, experimental design, and necropsy and histological changes. The data entry takes place semi-automatically by using different codes grouped into three files: for substances, for animals, and for pathological changes. The code for pathological findings is based on SNOP. For data processing the system ALIS is employed which permits input, check and update; reorganisation and confirmation; evaluation.The information system is adapted to the organization and research programs of the German Cancer Research Center. It is a flexible system applicable for different conditions in registering and processing diverse information about animal experiments.