Big Data in Pediatric Oncology: Hope, Hype, Reality

Abstract

Proposed uses of “big data” in pediatric oncology are growing alongside the notoriety that big data has achieved from uses outside of medicine. While big data approaches hold promise to revolutionize how we collect, analyze, and act upon biomedical data, a number of distinct challenges constrain our ability fully to leverage big data to improve human health. In this manuscript, we focus on applications of big data approaches in pediatric oncology. We highlight challenges that limit our ability to leverage big data using existing methods and discuss promising ways that big data can be used to solve existing problems and improve outcomes for children with cancer.