The lifespan of the European population is increasing and accordingly, diseases that become prevalent in old age, such as brain tumours, will afflict a larger percentage of this population. In addition to this, within the younger population, cancer still remains the most common cause of death from disease in children over 1 year of age, and childhood brain tumours are the most common solid malignancies. Primary brain tumours are not known to have a lifestyle-associated aetiology hence preventative strategies are not possible.

Therefore, in order to maximise the qualityof life and minimise healthcare costs, early and accurate diagnosis of brain tumours is required. It will enable an optimal treatment planning, as well as assist in the development of accurate methods to monitor treatment efficacy. This is a major goal of the HealthAgents project.

This project would also build upon the foundations of a collaborating framework to involve new institutions to share their local databases of brain tumour cases. Then, these institutions are both our target audience and the main source of useful information. We intend to perform a careful clinical assessment of the d-DSS. This will enable and promote the widespread use of MRS technology as a valid, evidence-based decision tool. The d-DSS intends to increase the computer-aid diagnostic capabilities. After all, the clinical expertise rests in consultants and professionals at those centres.

An additional interesting outcome of the HealthAgents project is the standardisation of data models and the use of a shared ontology. We intend to employ open standards as well as open-source software to the largest extent possible in order to enable the extensibility and support of the project. This will pave the way for future data exchange between health organisations. By programming the distributed databases to cooperate using agent technologies, we argue to be contributing to the formation of the first data grid focused solely on the diagnosis of brain tumours.