1. Database Operations

Collecting treatment experiences is vitally important for improving the level of medical care. Just as individual doctors become more skilled as they diagnose and treat patients, medical practices of hospitals and across the country will be improved by providing doctors with best-practices guidelines based on research and correct analysis of medical data from a broad cross-section of patients. In other words, this requires collection of wide-ranging medical data derived from appropriate analysis and sound conclusions based on evidence-based medicine. By collecting this information beforehand in a database, the data can be used to analyze and research widely ranging conditions from routine therapies to highly specialized procedures using information registered in the database that describes each and every condition.
Our department has been involved in many database projects as itemized below. Although prior consent was not obtained when the medical data was collected, we can assume that the data was gathered with the permission of the patients, and of course patients who do not want to participate are free to opt out. Rest assured that no patient will be denied treatment or be disadvantaged in any way by opting out and not allowing his or her data to be used.

Privacy Considerations

Confidentiality is strictly observed whenever the data is used. Information is never disclosed in a form that can be traced back to a specific individual, and the data is never carried around on an external hard drive or other portable device.


▶Japan Cardiovascular Surgery Database (JCVSD)



▶National clinical database ( (NCD)



▶Hokkaido University Cardiovascular Surgery Database (HOCARD)


▶Survival of Patients with Acute Heart Failure in Need of Intravenous inotropic Support（SURVIVE）


▶Japanese Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (JRAD)


▶Japanese Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (JMACS)

2. Clinical Research Based on Past Medical Records

Our mission as a university hospital is to provide routine medical care to patients while also conducting medical research. By collecting and verifying medical data from patients who have undergone cardiovascular surgery, this will contribute to better medical care and practices in the future. This research has been planned well in advance, but we also have collected and carefully reviewed data from previous surgeries. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain informed consent from each and every patient regarding the research before surgery. Here we have at least informed patients of the nature of the research by describing the research on our web site and by notifying all patients about the research. Patients who believe that their surgery matches that covered by the research (based on the name of the disease or the surgical procedure) may contact us at the address shown below to opt out or just to check and see if their data was used. If you would prefer to opt out and not have your data used, let us know and we will exclude your data from the research. Rest assured that no patient will be denied treatment or be disadvantaged in any way by opting out and not allowing his or her data to be used.

Privacy Considerations

Confidentiality is strictly observed whenever the data is used. Information is never disclosed in a form that can be traced back to a specific individual, and the data is never carried around on an external hard drive or other portable device.

Contact:

Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery,
Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine

Kita-15,Nishi-7,Kita-Ku,Sapporo,Hokkaido 060-8648

TEL：+81-11-706-6040

FAX：+81-11-706-7612

email：jungeka@med.hokudai.ac.jp