Presentation 2 - Abstracting

Abstracts organize and summarize information in a patient's medical record for each independent tumor. The abstract includes patient data about demographics, diagnostic studies, cancer staging, treatment, and follow-up. When they create and update abstracts, cancer registrars must follow abstracting rules set by their individual state central registries. Hospitals that are accredited through the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (ACoS/CoC) also follow ACoS/CoC abstracting rules and standards. Cancer registries transmit abstract data to their state’s cancer registry and, if the facility is ACoS/CoC-accredited, to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB).

Learning Objectives:

• Define what a Cancer Registry abstract is
• Discuss what information (data) is collected
• Identify the organizations that govern abstracting rules
• Review how the collected data is used