Cancer Registry Data Collection Flashcards

The date used to start calculating survival time in cancer registry analyses is typically the:

Answer: Date of diagnosis (date of first pathologic confirmation or clinical diagnosis)

Survival time is calculated from the date of diagnosis — the earliest confirmed date of malignancy — to death or last contact.

Which field in the cancer registry abstract identifies whether the tumor arose in the right or left side of a paired organ?

Answer: Laterality

The laterality field specifies right, left, bilateral, midline, or not applicable for paired organs such as kidneys, lungs, or breasts.

A hospital cancer registry is required to submit data to its state central registry. The state registry then submits to NAACCR for inclusion in the national dataset. This flow illustrates which type of registry hierarchy?

Answer: Hospital-to-state-to-national hierarchical reporting

U.S. cancer data flows hierarchically: hospital registries → state central registries → NAACCR-aggregated national databases like SEER and CDC NPCR.

When a cancer registry abstracts 'class of case,' a code of '00' indicates:

Answer: Diagnosis elsewhere, initial treatment at the reporting facility

Class of case 00 indicates the patient was initially diagnosed at another facility but received their first course of treatment at the reporting facility.

What is the function of the 'sequence number' data item in a cancer registry abstract?

Answer: It indicates the order in which multiple primaries occurred in a patient's lifetime

The sequence number identifies the chronological order of multiple primary cancers diagnosed in a single patient across their lifetime.

Which source document is generally considered the 'gold standard' for confirming histologic diagnosis during cancer registry abstraction?

Answer: Pathology or cytology report

The pathology or cytology report provides microscopic tissue confirmation, making it the definitive source for histologic type and behavior coding.

A registry manager wants to measure how quickly cases are abstracted after diagnosis. Which data quality dimension is being assessed?

Answer: Timeliness

Timeliness measures the interval between case diagnosis (or first contact) and completion of the abstract, reflecting how current the registry data is.