CTR Cancer Registry Data Collection 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which date is used as the 'date of diagnosis' when a biopsy and a subsequent surgical resection both confirm malignancy?
- Date of surgical resection
- Date of the biopsy confirming malignancy (Correct answer)
- Date the oncologist first evaluated the patient
- Date the pathology report was signed
Correct answer: Date of the biopsy confirming malignancy
The date of diagnosis is the earliest date on which a definitive diagnosis of cancer was established, typically the biopsy date.
Question 2: A physician documents 'metastatic adenocarcinoma, consistent with colonic primary' in the record. How should the registrar code the primary site?
- Code primary site as unknown (C80.9)
- Code primary site as colon based on physician statement (Correct answer)
- Code primary site as the metastatic site
- Defer until pathology confirms with immunohistochemistry
Correct answer: Code primary site as colon based on physician statement
Registrars follow physician statements of primary site even when expressed as 'consistent with,' per FORDS/STORE coding rules.
Question 3: What is the standard accession number format used by most hospital cancer registries?
- Patient medical record number followed by tumor sequence
- Year of diagnosis followed by sequential case number (Correct answer)
- ICD-O site code followed by year
- Facility ID followed by patient SSN
Correct answer: Year of diagnosis followed by sequential case number
The standard accession number uses the four-digit year of diagnosis plus a sequential number (e.g., 20230001).
Question 4: Which coding system is used to classify the primary site of cancer in the tumor registry abstract?
- ICD-10-CM
- ICD-O-3 topography codes (Correct answer)
- CPT procedure codes
- SNOMED-CT codes
Correct answer: ICD-O-3 topography codes
ICD-O-3 topography codes (C00-C80) are used to specify the anatomic site of origin of the primary tumor.
Question 5: A tumor registrar discovers a case was abstracted with an incorrect primary site two years ago. What is the correct action?
- Delete the case and re-enter it fresh
- Amend the original abstract with a correction and document the change (Correct answer)
- Leave the error to avoid disrupting longitudinal data
- Report the error only to the state registry, not the hospital registry
Correct answer: Amend the original abstract with a correction and document the change
Erroneous abstracts should be corrected via amendment with documentation of the change to maintain data integrity.
Question 6: For a patient diagnosed with cancer at an outside facility who receives chemotherapy only at your hospital, what is your facility's relationship to this case?
- No report required since diagnosis was elsewhere
- Reporting facility for initial diagnosis only
- Treating facility — must be reported per CoC standards (Correct answer)
- Only state registry must be notified, not the hospital registry
Correct answer: Treating facility — must be reported per CoC standards
CoC-accredited facilities must report all patients who receive any first-course treatment there, even if diagnosed elsewhere.
Question 7: When coding 'laterality' for a tumor, which organ would NOT require a laterality code?
- Kidney
- Lung
- Thyroid
- Stomach (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Stomach
The stomach is a midline organ and does not have paired sides, so laterality coding is not applicable.
CTR Cancer Registry Data Collection 3
Which date is used as the 'date of diagnosis' when a biopsy and a subsequent surgical resection both confirm malignancy?