EU project looks at DNA link to patient records

A telemedicine project funded by the European Union has been looking at ways of matching patients in emergency situations with their electronic records using their DNA.

The DICOEMS project was set up to help integrate healthcare databases through means of a grid system, with a view to making more information available for paramedics and in accident and emergency departments.

One of the data sources looked at by the programme was a database linking patients to their DNA. DICOEMS attempted to create a device to analyse the DNA of a patient’s blood and match it to a record containing their medical history, but this was not successful.

"Unfortunately, the European Union does not yet have a legal framework allowing collection of an extensive DNA database from the general public," Matteo Colombo, head, technical specialist at partner and technology company Synergia 2000, told journal IST Results.

"That lack made this goal unworkable. This turned out to be the project’s biggest obstacle."

The project did have several successes in linking databases to help emergency care, however. For instance, a text-search tool was used by emergency switchboard operators that matched clinical needs with the most appropriate hospital to treat the patient, and a patient’s GP or carer could even patch into the network and remotely participate in treatment.

Colombo added that the work in the field of DNA testing was still valuable as the technology could be used to identify smaller sets of people, such as members of the police or fire service: "Privacy concerns might be less of an issue, because the organisation would manage its own database, which could be used for identifying injured or dead policemen or firemen, for example."

Tests were done of the network in Italy, with work on integration of databases carried out in Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital NHS Trust, London. The database integration technology will be introduced in the Italian emergency services at the end of the year, pending approval by the relevant authorities.

Colombo added: "We hope to arrange an agreement allowing Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital to serve as the bridge between the DICOEMS Italian organisation and the UK’s entire NHS system."

The project’s main aim was to improve data sharing across organisations. "The system will improve decision support, diagnosis and risk management in critical situations occurring far from hospital emergency rooms," said Colombo.

DICOEMS was funded by a grant from the Specific Targeted Research Projects (STREP) scheme, part of the EU’s FP6 research programme.

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DICOEMS