Learn more about the functions of the cancer registry.
Casefinding
Casefinding is a systematic process for locating every patient, inpatient or outpatient, diagnosed and/or treated with a reportable diagnosis. The casefinding process must be extensive enough to “capture” all of the reportable cancer cases. If a case meets the general criteria and the diagnosis is on the list of reportable conditions set forth by standard-setting agencies in conjunction with facility-specific needs, they will be included in the UPMC Network Cancer Registry database.
Abstracting
The purpose of abstracting is to organize, summarize and categorize the crucial information about patient demographics, diagnosis, extent of disease, treatment and outcomes from a patient’s medical records for each reportable case.
Follow-Up
Patient follow-up is performed by hospital-based and many population-based registries. The follow-up process is a very important component for assessing optimal patient care and provides a valuable record of patient outcomes.
Reporting
Cancer Registries have many reporting requirements at the facility level, central registry level and national level. Reporting is performed by facility-based and population-based cancer registries.