Cancer Registry Data Collection Flashcards

In SEER staging, the category 'Regional' for a solid tumor means the cancer has spread to:

Answer: Adjacent tissue, regional lymph nodes, or both

SEER Regional stage indicates the tumor has extended beyond the primary organ to adjacent tissues, regional lymph nodes, or both, but not to distant sites.

A cancer registry abstract must document treatment administered within how many months of diagnosis to qualify as 'first course of treatment' under most registry standards?

Answer: 4 months

Under CoC/STORE standards, first course of treatment generally includes all modalities planned and administered within 4 months of diagnosis unless disease progression alters the plan.

Which registry data element captures the microscopic grade or degree of differentiation of a tumor and helps predict prognosis?

Answer: Grade/differentiation

Grade/differentiation describes how abnormal tumor cells appear compared to normal cells; well-differentiated (low grade) tumors typically have better prognoses than poorly differentiated (high grade) ones.

A patient was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and then diagnosed with a new primary lung cancer in 2024. How should the sequence numbers be assigned?

Answer: Breast = 01, Lung = 02

Sequence numbers are assigned in chronological order of diagnosis: the first-ever primary receives 01 and each subsequent primary increments, so Breast (2018) = 01 and Lung (2024) = 02.

What term describes the process of contacting patients, physicians, or other sources at regular intervals to determine whether a patient is alive or deceased?

Answer: Active follow-up

Active follow-up involves periodic direct outreach to patients, physicians, or records to update vital status and disease status, maintaining accurate survival data.

Under CoC standards, what is the minimum required annual follow-up rate for analytic cases in a hospital cancer registry?

Answer: 90%

The CoC requires accredited cancer programs to achieve a minimum 90% follow-up rate for all living analytic cases diagnosed within the past five years.

When a cancer registry codes 'ambiguous terminology' diagnoses (e.g., 'probable carcinoma'), which reference determines whether the term is reportable?

Answer: SEER Program Coding and Staging Manual ambiguous terminology list

The SEER Program Coding and Staging Manual includes a standardized list of ambiguous terms (e.g., 'probable,' 'consistent with') that are considered reportable, ensuring uniform case inclusion across registries.