Development of an oncology data network in Germany

In the 1990ies, an oncology data network has been set up mainly in the New States of Germany. Although not formally planned and established as a whole, it consists of a number of initiatives, that co-operate well and gain added value from this co-operation. From the technological view, the centre of the network is the Giessener Tumordokumentationssystem (GTDS), that was developed at Giessen University. We present important basic conditions in which this development took place, show some results and describe future directions of the development.