Casefinding Sources

Hospital Sources

The source documents for casefinding may vary in individual institutions. Generally, in a hospital, registry source documents can include, but are not limited to, the following documents

Review of only one type of source document cannot identify all cancer cases diagnosed or treated in a hospital. Some cancer cases do not have pathology reports such as those diagnosed by imaging only. Therefore, reliance on multiple sources is necessary to obtain a complete description of the patient's cancer experience; for example, review of reports from diagnostic tests, surgery reports, pathology reports, radiology reports, and treatment summaries.

Non-Hospital Sources

Some non-hospital sources includes but is not limited to, labs, treatment centers, and surgery centers.

Electronic Sources

Electronic Pathology (E-path)

Cancer registries rely heavily on pathology reports to identify new cancer cases. E-path can automate many of the case finding activities but there are some challenges, such as the cost associated with the software implementation and infrastructure.

The benefit of E-path can include automated, complete, rapid casefinding; however, visual review is necessary to verify reportable cases and to eliminate over-reporting of non-cancerous cases.

"Paper" Sources

Some casefinding sources useful as quicker access to identify reportable cancer cases are

  • Admission/Discharge reports
  • Outpatient infusion clinic logs
  • Outpatient radiation oncology clinic logs
  • Daily surgery schedules

Updated: December 12, 2023