CanScreen-ECIS: The project

The CanScreen-ECIS project aims to develop and pilot a new cancer screening data management system to be integrated into the European Cancer Information System (ECIS), which is hosted by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. The project is a collaboration with European experts involved in two other key projects on cancer screening data collection: the second European Screening Report (EUSR) and EU-TOPIA.

Performance indicators defined and used by EUSR and EU-TOPIA will be reviewed, and new additional indicators will be proposed especially to cover new screening approaches and potential new cancer sites for the future. Aggregated data collection tools for the screening programmes for various cancer sites will be designed to compute the new indicators. A data warehouse will be created for providers of screening data to access data collection tools and submit aggregated data. A web application will automatically analyse the data and display validated data as interactive graphs, tables, and charts, to provide a visual and user-friendly tool to monitor the screening indicators and to support decision-making.

Objectives

The key objectives of the CanScreen-ECIS project are:

To propose performance indicators that:
1. enable comparison between the variable organizational settings of screening programmes;
2. enable collection of data on testing outside the screening programmes;
3. enable the monitoring system to identify and quantify the information on inequalities; and
4. cover new screening approaches and potential new cancer sites for the future.
To design data collection tools for the screening programmes for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers aligned with the new indicators.
To create a data warehouse for providers of screening data to access data collection tools and submit data.
To automatically analyse data and display validated data as interactive graphs, tables, etc.
To organize a pilot and to invite screening programmes in Europe to submit data using the new data management system, also providing feedback for improvement.
To integrate the data management system into ECIS.

To do this, the CanScreen-ECIS project has defined six Work Packages (WP) with specific tasks and deadlines for each of the collaborators:

Work Package number	Work Package name	Lead beneficiary
WP1	Project management and coordination	International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
WP2	Refining performance indicators	Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam (Erasmus MC)
WP3	Developing a data submission portal compliant with relevant data protection regulations, to report and disseminate cancer screening performance at the European level, to eventually be hosted in ECIS	Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino (CPO)
WP4	Pilot testing functionalities of the new data warehouse and web application to be integrated into ECIS	International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
WP5	Supporting capacity-building of European states to ensure the contribution of cancer screening data to ECIS using new protocols and tools integrated into the programme monitoring in EU Member States	Suomen Syöpäyhdistys - Cancerföreningen i Finland ry – Cancer Society of Finland (CSF)
WP6	Continued engagement with EU Member States to report the status of implementation and performance of cancer screening programmes using the new functionalities of ECIS, enabling publication of the third EU Screening Report	Association Européenne des Ligues Contre le Cancer, ASBL – Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL)