HL7 Europe Common Cancer Model
0.1.0 - ci-build 150

HL7 Europe Common Cancer Model, published by HL7 Europe. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 0.1.0 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/hl7-eu/cancer-common/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Source and Additional Information

Contextual information This page provides reference material for the guide. It supports understanding of the proposed model, but it is not itself a model artefact or an implementation specification submitted for evaluation.

The development of the HL7 Europe Cancer Common Data Model (ECCDM) builds on a combination of European projects, shared datasets, international specifications, and community-driven initiatives.

The following sources and materials provide additional context and background information relevant to this Implementation Guide.

European and national initiatives

ECCDM is informed by experience gained in several European and national initiatives addressing cancer data for clinical care, research, and secondary use, including:

  • IDEA4RC – European project focused on the reuse of health data for rare
  • PanCareSurPass – European project addressing survivorship care and long-term follow-up
  • FLUTE – European initiative addressing data interoperability in oncology
  • OSIRIS – National (French) initiative contributing experience on cancer data modelling

Shared datasets and reference models

The initiative also builds on shared datasets and reference efforts aimed at identifying common cancer information across institutions and countries, including:

  • MEDOC (Minimal Essential Description of Cancer), a dataset defining a minimal set of cancer-related data elements across multiple European hospitals

Standards and specifications

ECCDM is aligned with and informed by existing standards and specifications, including:

  • HL7 FHIR, used for data exchange and interoperability in primary data capture and sharing
  • OMOP Common Data Model, widely adopted for research and secondary use of health data
  • HL7 US mCODE (minimal Common Oncology Data Elements) Implementation Guide, which provides valuable implementation experience in oncology

Project documentation and governance

Additional information on the ECCDM initiative, including governance, meeting minutes, model evolution, and decision history, is available through:

  • HL7 Europe Cancer Common Model project page
  • Conceptual and Logical Model documentation maintained by HL7 Europe
  • Model history and change logs published on the HL7 Europe Confluence platform