Transit Time Flowmetry During Off-pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: How to Make Clinical Data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable

Objectives

Increasingly more clinical studies are published under the Open Access publishing model making them accessible online to everyone for free. Often, the only aspect that is not yet open is the data underlying these publications. Publishing data improves reproducibility and reliability of research, it increases visibility of research, and accelerates innovation. Furthermore, unique and highly valuable data from i.e. rare cardiac diseases or surgical techniques is not available to everyone.

The aim of this study is to present a best practice for publishing clinical data. A clinical study on intraoperative transit-time flowmetry during off‐pump coronary artery bypass surgery and the impact of coronary stenosis on competitive flow is used as an example.

Methods

Data is published according to the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. To be ‘Findable’, a unique digital object identifier (DOI) was assigned to the dataset, and metadata described the content, contact information, location, items and definitions. The data is ‘Accessible’ for everyone under Open Access. To be ‘Interoperable’, MeSH and STROBE standards were used. Finally, to be ’Reusable’, the data were made readable by others, and a license permitting data reuse was assigned.

Results

Data for 50 study patients were refined, and patient data anonymised. Date of birth information was grouped by age intervals, so it can be openly published in an external repository. Transit time flow measurements, definitions, study protocol, and the variable list were described. The dataset was made publicly available in the 4TU.ResearchData repository. Researchers should be attributed when data is reused under a CC-BY licence.

Conclusion

For cardiac surgery studies, it is feasible to publish data alongside Open Access peer-reviewed journal articles. The FAIR principles for clinical data management should be incorporated in the design and implementation of future clinical studies.