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This network is one of several being conducted within the Cancer Imaging Program. The main emphasis is on the support of the development and adaptation/implementation of quantitative imaging endpoints (including imaging methods and related software tools research, and/or informatics infrastructure, as needed). Any related clinical trials are not supported under this program.
To date, fifteen seventeen centers of imaging excellence have been selected through the NIH peer review process and more will be added as they pass through peer review. Five working groups, addressing common issues to the various programs, including data collection, data evaluation, informatics and potential clinical trials have been established, composed of members of the different programs, though not necessarily the principal investigators. Various program staff from the NCI have oversight of the network through monthly phone calls. The Network meets monthly via teleconference and organizes network-wide activities such as consensus publications, cross-network activities, associate membership in the network, and semi-annual face-to-face meetings.
The organization of the QIN is more than just an assembly of individual research programs. In addition to the Steering Committee, the presently funded seven centers are linked by five working groups. These are functions identified by the centers as being common to each center. By pooling resources in these areas, the centers can leverage their resources and prevent "siloing", a common problem in many multi-site initiatives.
Data Access
To clarify rules of engagement and to encourage meaningful data sharing, QIN adopted a data sharing policy in November 2013. The spirit of this policy is one of collaboration and flexibility intended to introduce a minimal amount of oversight and/or committee work to QIN members. The QIN is committed to providing commercial and academic investigators an opportunity to access data collected as part of QIN studies for purposes that are consistent with the missions of the QIN and the NCI. All QIN members, associate/affiliate members, external collaborators, and companies are made aware of the guiding principles of the Quantitative Imaging Network Resource Sharing Policy. The objective of the data sharing policy is to help maximize the effectiveness of the QIN by fostering an environment of collaboration and sharing, while addressing concerns of data being used without consent, either by a member of the QIN or an external collaborator. Concerns about inappropriate data use of these shared data could hinder the multi center collaborations within the QIN.
The guiding principles of the QIN data sharing policy are as follows:
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To facilitate data sharing, the QIN increasingly relies of the facilities of the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) as a resource, which addresses many of the principles set forth in the data sharing policy. Most importantly, the TCIA provides a mechanism for access-controlled data sharing and extensive de-identification services, which comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. This drastically reduces the burden on QIN sites when sharing their data. The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) is currently being used as a mechanism to allow data sharing between sites. Eventually we hope to be able to make many of the data sets utilized in the context of QIN research available to the general public. Currently the following QIN data sets are publicly accessible with several others still being shared internally within the network: