Computer databases for the sentinel lymph node program

At the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, a computer database system was created using the FileMaker Pro database pro gram. The system allows the clinical team to bring together data from all a spects of a multidisciplinary effort toward improving daily clinical manage ment, for research, and ultimately, for the clinical standard of care for m elanoma patients. With modest objectives during the initiation of the datab ase, its adaptability has allowed it to become an integral link in all the efforts of the melanoma program. For the future, tapping into the immense p otential of the Internet has begun to organize multicenter efforts. Through nationwide collaboration, the Sentinel Lymph Node Working Group will be ab le to follow, on a larger scale, the successes of the FileMaker pro databas e at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.