On-line integration and analysis of cardiological data to support medical decision making

A Web application was built to support cardiologist's medical decision-making. Main components are: 1. a 3D-dynamic virtual heart, integrating the single patient's cardiac and coronary abnormalities. 2. Estimation of patient's outcome on the basis of historical data analysis on the subpopulation/s with the closest similarity to the patient's risk profile. 3. Same derived from published clinical controlled trials. 4. External web links to international guidelines, risk charts and epidemiological surveys. Each patient is characterized by over one-hundred parameters belonging to anamnesis, test results, final diagnosis, therapy and follow-up. Historical data were retrieved from the Institute's cardiology database-containing more than 11,000 patients hospitalized in the last 30 years and systematically followed up for 10 years - and were graphically rendered. Cardiologists have expressed appreciation toward the project as it gives easy access to a wide range of data, precious for medical decision-making and important for research protocols and clinical and administrative patient management.