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Cancer biomarkers: the role of structured data reporting
Ross W Simpson1, Michael A Berman, Philip R Foulis
1From the Department of Pathology, Park Nicollet-Methodist Hospital, St Louis Park, Minnesota (Dr Simpson); the Department of Pathology, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania (Dr Berman); the University of South Florida Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa (Dr Foulis); the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Grand River Hospital, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada (Dr Divaris); the Department of Pathology, Grady Health System/Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia (Dr Birdsong); Capability & Specialty Advancement, College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Illinois (Drs Mirza, Moldwin, and Spencer); the Laboratory Medicine and Genetics Program, Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (Dr Srigley); and the Department of Pathology, St Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, California (Dr Fitzgibbons).
Context:
The College of American Pathologists has been producing cancer protocols since 1986 to aid pathologists in the diagnosis and reporting of cancer cases. Many pathologists use the included cancer case summaries as templates for dictation/data entry into the final pathology report. These summaries are now available in a computer-readable format with structured data elements for interoperability, packaged as "electronic cancer checklists." Most major vendors of anatomic pathology reporting software support this model.
Objectives:
To outline the development and advantages of structured electronic cancer reporting using the electronic cancer checklist model, and to describe its extension to cancer biomarkers and other aspects of cancer reporting.
Data Sources:
Peer-reviewed literature and internal records of the College of American Pathologists.
Conclusions:
Accurate and usable cancer biomarker data reporting will increasingly depend on initial capture of this information as structured data. This process will support the standardization of data elements and biomarker terminology, enabling the meaningful use of these datasets by pathologists, clinicians, tumor registries, and patients.
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