Data base management in interventional electrophysiology--the relational advantage.

A relational database was designed to facilitate patient management and storage of complex electrophysiologic data of patients undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation. The database has to deal with multiple data entries per patient record like radiofrequency current applications and catheters. Background. Due to the complexity of catheter mapping and ablation therapy, the investigators have to handle various data types. Contradictory to a flat-file database, a relational structured database is not limited to a “single record structure”. Implementation. The designed database is built on the relational database programming environment 4th Dimension (ACI). It is implemented on an Apple Macintosh computer system. The relational structure consists of 13 data files and enables an unlimited data entry of multiple items per data field: In 1288 patients 10308 radiofrequency current applications were applied for ablation therapy and 4798 diagnostic or therapeutic catheters were used.