Image: a cardiological database. Twenty years of experience

A cardiological multidimensional database, Image, was implemented in the 1982 to store the most important data obtained during hospitalization of patients affected by cardiovascular disease. The database is populated when the patient is discharge and subsequently enriched with follow up data. Patients are followed for at least five years, maximum for ten years. At the moment database contains almost 10000 patients. In the population observed over the twenty years changes in demographic, clinical manifestations and therapeutic approaches of cardiovascular disease are found Follow up data allow to correlate treatment approaches with prognosis. The long-term Image database results essential 1) to obtain clinical data integration useful for playback consultation for health care or research purposes 2) to obtain epidemiological information on diseases 3) to follow the different impact of therapeutic procedures on prognosis.