NATALI--a model for National Computer Databases in the investigation of new therapeutic techniques

New medical treatments are often introduced without the benefit of randomized trials. We describe how a national computerized database was produced, by the Thrombolysis Study Group, for monitoring one such new treatment: peripheral arterial thrombolysis. A novel method for transferring angiograms to computer generated arterial maps that can help in the classification and analysis of the outcome of thrombolysis is also described. Data provided by prospective collection from 14 hospitals within the UK was entered onto the database (Auditbase for Windows), to give contributing members a continual audit of their own results and complications that can be compared with that of the group as a whole. This system may be an appropriate model for other forms of multi-centre audit and the monitoring of new treatments.