Quality of histopathological reporting on melanoma and influence of use of a synoptic template

To evaluate the quality of histopathological reporting for melanoma in a whole population, to assess the influence on quality of the use of a synoptic template and thus to provide an evidence base to guide improvement in reporting melanoma pathology.

Histopathology reports of all primary invasive melanomas notified to the New South Wales Central Cancer Registry between October 2006 and October 2007 (n = 3784) were reviewed. A detailed audit of histopathology reports for consecutively diagnosed primary invasive melanoma over 6 months (n = 2082) was performed to assess the quality of each report based on compliance with the 2008 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Melanoma in Australia and New Zealand. Only half of the initial excision specimen reports included the essential components necessary to stage a melanoma patient according to the 2002 American Joint Committee on Cancer/International Union Against Cancer melanoma staging system. Report format was strongly correlated with completeness and validity of reporting: reports in a synoptic format, with or without a descriptive component, achieved the highest quality levels.

Even in a population with a high incidence of melanoma, concordance of pathology reports with current guidelines was comparatively low. Wider adoption of synoptic reporting is likely to increase report quality.