[Structured reporting of prostate cancer-self-development of a digital solution for prostate biopsies]

The challenges in pathology and in structuring of data are increasing. Although considerable amounts of data are generated during the pathological diagnostic process, these data are often not available in a structured form and have to be extracted from the reports through a time-consuming and error-prone manual approach. However, the data are required for various internal and external purposes, such as for audits, tumor organ centers, reporting to cancer registries, different consortia, billing, various aspects within the organization, and for research.

The aim of the work was the development of a digital system for the direct and high-quality acquisition of structured pathology data using the example of biopsy-based diagnostics of prostate carcinoma.

A solution was created in cooperation with the pathology laboratory information system (LIS) provider imassense GmbH (Berlin, Germany), whose LIS 'Informationssystem der digitalen Pathologie' (IS-P) is used at the Institute of Pathology at the University Hospital Essen.

Over a period of about 1.5 years, a system that is capable of structured reporting according to local, national (S3 guidelines, German Cancer Society) and international (International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting [ICCR]) specifications was developed and subsequently used. The data are stored in readable databases and can easily be generated via IS‑P. Apart from the disadvantage of a highly specialized solution adapted to the LIS, the project also shows the feasibility in the local academic environment with the above-mentioned advantages.