I"A TO PARTICIPATE IN ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNET DATABASE ON BEST PRACTICES IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Press Release
IAEA/1323
IAEA TO PARTICIPATE IN ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNET DATABASE ON BEST PRACTICES IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE
19980904 Researchers, Doctors of Developing Countries Will Benefit Most from New Access to Systematic Scientific ReviewsVIENNA/BERLIN, 4 September (IAEA) -- Up-to-date and accurate information about the most effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment of health problems using nuclear technologies will become available worldwide via the Internet. This is thanks to a new project announced at the seventh World Congress of Nuclear Medicine and Biology convened in Berlin, Germany, on 30 August and concluding today.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and the Cochrane Collaboration are joining forces to establish, for the first time, a "Cochrane Field in Nuclear Medicine". The principal aim is to prepare systematic scientific reviews of the best-quality practices in nuclear medicine, including reports of controlled clinical trials, and to incorporate them in a database library accessible via the Internet and on CD-ROM. In particular, researchers and doctors in developing countries who have limited access to updated literature will benefit from this initiative.
The new project will follow the methodology developed by the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit organization founded in 1993. It has been preparing, maintaining and disseminating -- through the Cochrane Database Library -- systematic reviews on many aspects of health care, with special emphasis on therapy.
Working groups of experts joining the new Field in Nuclear Medicine will aim to develop the best database of clinical trials and diagnostic procedures in nuclear medicine. They will also undertake systematic reviews of key questions in nuclear medicine. These reviews will be exhaustive and, to reduce bias, will be carried out in as transparent and systematic a manner as possible. Much of the methodology for systematic reviews was developed by the Cochrane Collaboration for trials comparing treatments. There is a need to develop better methodology for systematically reviewing data from trials testing diagnostic methods. The new Field will have a major part to play in this endeavour.
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The IAEA will serve as the secretariat for the project and will maintain the database, using Cochrane's software, "RevMan". The Agency and the World Federation will make use of their pool of experts in the nuclear field to form a global network of work groups reviewing individual issues, such as treatment of thyroid cancer and palliation of bone metastases with open radioactive sources. To that end, the World Federation, which includes national organizations in the field of nuclear medicine in 40 countries, will provide its extensive experts database.
The initiative will be of benefit to all involved in nuclear medicine. This includes patients who want increasing amounts of information about their care -- particularly about possible treatments. Reviews will also address questions that are important to less affluent countries. As all work groups have to be international in their membership, collaborators from developing countries will be actively sought, with the aim of ensuring that questions important to these countries are answered. Major health problems in developing countries include infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria and Chagas disease. The reviews will evaluate the role and use of nuclear diagnostic methods for these diseases.
For further information, contact: Dr. Steffen Groth, Director, Division of Human Health, IAEA, tel: +43 1 2060, ext. 21650; fax: +43 1 20607; e-mail: s.groth@iaea.org.
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