Guy's Cancer Cohort_2023
Research type
Research Database
IRAS ID
325735
Contact name
Mieke Van Hemelrijck
Contact email
Research summary
Guy's Cancer Cohort_2023
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0105
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
Guy's Cancer Cohort is a research database which includes all routinely collected clinical data of patients investigated for, or diagnosed with, cancer at Guy's Cancer Centre. This research database includes retrospective and prospective clinical information which is analysed in anonymised format as part of clinically relevant observational studies which aim to improve patient outcomes and experience. Guy's Cancer Cohort commenced in 2018 and initially focused on the breast, lung, and urology tumour types. The remit of the database has since expanded to include datasets of well-characterised head & neck, hepatobiliary, neuroendocrine, and haematological cancer patients, as well as patients diagnosed via the vague symptom rapid diagnostic clinic. Clinically relevant datapoints including socio-demographic information, tumour characteristics, treatment information, outcome information, and long term follow-up data are collated. Data is extracted from the various hospital software systems utilised at Guy's Cancer Centre, before being validated and transformed by the Guy's Cancer Cohort research team. A governance structure is in place to review and approve applications to utilise the clinical data, in anonymised format, for clinically relevant observational studies.
Research programme
The set-up of Guy's Cancer Cohort has facilitated the commencement of a clinical-academic partnership between Guy's Cancer Centre and King's College London, named as the Guy's Cancer Real-World Evidence Programme. The commencement of Guy's Cancer Cohort has highlighted the importance of using real-world evidence to inform clinical decision-making and policy, and has allowed us to address challenging cancer research questions. The partnership accelerated during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, where rapid and high-quality data collection was prioritised to develop COVID-19 and cancer observational studies which directly influenced local and (inter)national care pathways and policy. To date, more than 40 publications have resulted from this work including assessment of the outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19. Outside of the remit of COVID-19, various tumour specific observational studies have been developed using data collated as part of Guy's Cancer Cohort. For example, one study of patients with non-small cell lung cancer observed that younger age is associated with late stage at presentation and poor prognosis in patients who were not offered a targeted therapy. Additionally, for prostate cancer, a cohort of patients undergoing active surveillance were characterised and the study concluded that the risk of patients progressing to treatment has decreased since 2012.
Research database title
Guy's Cancer Cohort_2023
Establishment organisation
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Establishment organisation address
Guy's Hospital
16th Floor Tower Wing
SE1 9RT