Abstract B71: New directions in gynecologic cancer research utilizing Text Information Extraction System (TIES) Cancer Research Network

Gynecologic cancers pose significant morbidity and mortality burden for US women. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the US, while ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest. Since research funding for some of the gynecologic malignancies has been limited, novel research on the existing datasets needs to be harnessed to improve the health of the women affected by these conditions. We aim to evaluate if Text Information Extraction System (TIES) Cancer Research Network, a federated network that facilitates data and biospecimen sharing among member institutions, has capabilities for conducting research in the area of gynecologic cancers. TIES system provides effective tools for searching deidentified structured and unstructured data for gynecologic cancers with capabilities to explore pathology and radiology records. We used TIES system to identify records of patients with ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers. We used temporal search features to identify patients who developed ovarian tumors after being diagnosed with endometrial tumors. We examined records for completeness of information on diagnosis, age, and procedure year. We found that TIES system has 13,762 records for endometrial cancer, 7,692 records for ovarian cancer, and 10,826 records for cervical cancer for Pittsburgh site. 306 records have been identified for patients who had both ovarian and endometrial malignancies. Nearly 100% of the records had information on age of the patient, year of the procedure, and exact diagnosis. TIES is a promising tool for conducting research in the area of gynecologic malignancies, especially for rare diseases such as concurrent endometrial and ovarian cancers. Existing data repositories like TIES need to be further explored for novel research questions in the area of gynecologic cancer. Citation Format: Faina Y. Linkov, Melissa Schwenk, Michael Davis, Robert Edwards, Michael Becich. New directions in gynecologic cancer research utilizing Text Information Extraction System (TIES) Cancer Research Network. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Conference: Addressing Critical Questions in Ovarian Cancer Research and Treatment; Oct 1-4, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(15_Suppl):Abstract nr B71.