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Innovations & Thérapeutiques en Oncologie

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Introduction to “Big Data” in the era of modern radiotherapy Volume 2, issue 6, November-December 2016

Author
Centre hospitalier régional et universitaire
Henry Kaplan Center
Clinique d’oncologie et de radiothérapie
2, boulevard Tonnellé
37000 Tours
France
* Tirés à part

Advances in the field of computing (computing power, statistics, storage capacity, etc.) are creating a new universe known as “Big Data”. Behind the term “Big Data” is the concept of processing information which is collected either in a structured way (the results of biological processes, imaging, etc.) or an unstructured way (for example, based on the text of medical records). This enables the creation of new knowledge in real situations, without having to use methods associated with standard clinical trials. This new area of research creates new challenges, with regards to the collection and digital storage of an increasingly sizeable amount of information, the integration of unstructured data, and access to and analysis of this data. New regulatory frameworks must also be established to ensure the anonymization and veracity of data. Big Data also opens up many potential opportunities and some applications already exist in radiotherapy, through radiogenomics. The most promising of these involve access to elements that will make it possible to predict the efficacy and tolerance of radiotherapy by integrating, in predictive models, data derived from analysis of the genome of the patient and of the tumour genome with information derived from radiodiagnosis. The development of Big Data is still in its infancy and many technological and human challenges remain to be resolved in order to develop this mine of new information.