Standardization of pathological reports of cancers: Choice or obligation?
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Abstract
Introduction: The management of cancers requires complete and accurate pathology reports. Recent literature refers to the importance of synoptic report in cancer pathologies. In Tunisia, we still adopt the narrative report.
Aim: To evaluate the quality of narrative pathology reports of carcinomas diagnosed on surgical excision specimens at the Pathology Laboratory of Habib Thameur Hospital.
Methods: A retrospective descriptive study including pathology reports of carcinomas diagnosed on surgical excision specimens was performed at the Pathology Laboratory of Habib Thameur Hospital over four and a half years. The essential anatomopathological data to be formulated in a pathology report, set by the learned societies for each type of cancer, were recorded in the reports and analyzed using Excel and PSPP software.
Results: Five hundred and seventy-six pathology reports for nine types of carcinoma were collated. Evaluation of the anatomopathological data showed that the minimum data were 100% complete in 9% of carcinomas of the larynx, 7% of gastric carcinomas, 6.4% of thyroid carcinomas, 1.3% of colon carcinomas and 0% of carcinomas of the rectum, breast, endometrium, ovary, and kidney.
Conclusion: The low rate of completeness of narrative reports issued by our laboratory should be improved by adopting the synoptic reports to ensure that diagnostic and theranostic data are complete and, consequently, that patients are appropriately managed.
Keywords:
Evaluation, Report, Pathology, Carcinomas, Quality of health care##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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