Patient benefits of using data

Data is used in lots of different ways to improve cancer care and outcomes for patients.

Case studies

Researchers and clinicians are using health data to speed up cancer diagnoses, develop new drugs and treatments and give faster access to clinical trials. The case studies on this page show some of the ways that data is being used to improve cancer care and outcomes for patients. This work uses data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support.

Ovarian cancer – the silent killer?

How GP health data can help improve earlier diagnosis and save lives. In order to improve the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer, researchers at the University of Exeter used anonymised health data from GP practices to help them to identify the main symptoms women went to their GPs about.
Impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients and health services

Researchers from DATA-CAN and University College London analysed weekly real-time data from NHS cancer centres to find out about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer services and cancer patients in the UK during the first lockdown.
US study finds widening clinical trial eligibility criteria doubles the number of potential participants and increases real world applicability

Researchers in the United States looked at the impact of changing the criteria for cancer patients in some clinical trials and considered how this could increase the number of participants and potentially improve the trial.
Bowel cancer after a ‘clear’ colonoscopy

Thousands of patients have colonoscopies each year in the UK to investigate bowel symptoms. Despite their colonoscopy not showing anything untoward, some patients go on to develop bowel cancer. Researchers at the UK Colorectal Cancer Intelligence Hub wanted to understand how many people in England are affected and if this varies across the country.
The use of Big Data in early identification of other diseases associated with cancers

Researchers in Taiwan collected large volumes of patient data so that they could look closely at whether some medical conditions and types of cancer were linked.

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Patient benefits of using data

Case studies

Ovarian cancer – the silent killer?

Impact of COVID-19 on cancer patients and health services

US study finds widening clinical trial eligibility criteria doubles the number of potential participants and increases real world applicability

Bowel cancer after a ‘clear’ colonoscopy

The use of Big Data in early identification of other diseases associated with cancers