Abstracting a Cancer Case

A tumor abstract summarizes the important information about a patient’s reportable tumor. Cancer Registrars must understand the contents of a medical record to be able to extrapolate required data items for the cancer abstract. The Abstracting a Cancer Case module discusses information contained in patient medical records and how a cancer registrar can utilize the medical record to recount the patient’s cancer journey in the tumor abstract. Thorough documentation of the cancer patient’s diagnosis, extent of disease and treatment supports case consolidation, quality review, and cancer research and clinical studies.

In this module you will learn to

• Identify the guidelines for abstracting a reportable cancer diagnosis.
• Describe the types of information commonly contained in most medical records.
• Identify medical procedures used assist in the diagnosis and staging of certain cancers.
• Identify pathologic examinations that contain cancer information of a tumor abstract.

Updated: December 28, 2023