The International Neuromodulation Registry: A Graph Database Representation for Neuromodulation Therapies

By Hedges, D.M.^1,2, Duffley, G.^1,3, Hegman, J.C.¹, Gouripeddi, R.^2,4, Butson, C.R.^1,3,5,6,7

¹Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute, ²Department of Biomedical Informatics, ³Department of Biomedical Engineering, ⁴Center for Clinical and Translational Science, ⁵Department of Neurology, ⁶Department of Neurosurgery, ⁷Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a form of Neuromodulation therapy, often used in patients with many different types of neurological disorders. However, DBS is a rare treatment and medical centers have few patients who qualify for DBS, meaning that most DBS studies are statistically underpowered and have chronically low n values. Here, we present a platform designed to combine disparate datasets from different centers. Using this platform, researchers and clinicians will be able to aggregate patient datasets, transforming DBS studies from being center-based to being population-based.

Graph databases are increasing in popularity due to their speed of information retrieval, powerful visualization of complex data relationships, and flexible data models. Our Neo4j DBMS is physically located in the University of Utah Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) Protected Environment on a virtual machine, giving needs-based flexibility for both memory and storage.

This patient registry has been build on a next-generation graph database. Through a formal, but flexible, data model and ontology, this platform is able to harmonize disparate data types and allows for simple visualizations of complex data types.

Anticipated Use Cases: Cohort discovery, data and imaging download, exploratory analysis.

System Status

Cluster Utilization