PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - M D Manser
AU  - D F Levine
AU  - D F H Pheby
AU  - R W Pitcher
TI  - Colorectal cancer registration: the central importance of pathology
AID  - 10.1136/jcp.53.11.875
DP  - 2000 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Clinical Pathology
PG  - 875--877
VI  - 53
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/53/11/875.short
4100  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/53/11/875.full
SO  - J Clin Pathol2000 Nov 01; 53
AB  - Background—Changes in cancer care have increased the importance of cancer registries in monitoring trends and outcomes. Registries are increasingly using computerised systems, such as patient administration and histopathology, as data sources. Omissions by registries can cause interpretation errors, but use of multiple data sources can overcome this. Methods—Registrations of new colorectal cancers in Cornwall were compared with cases identified from primary sources over one year. Results—Two hundred and thirty cases were identified locally, 93% in documentary records, 89.6% via histopathology, and 81.3% in the clinical data capture module of the patient administration system. Two hundred and forty four cases were known to the regional registry, but after eliminating wrongly assigned and unconfirmed cases only 201 remained. Twenty nine cases identified locally, particularly cases of advanced disease, were unknown to the registry. Conclusions—District registers based on histopathology augmented from other sources would provide more accurate and less biased information than existing regionally based methods.