Title

Content

Site Code

Tumor type & number of cases

Total Cases

Total number of cases

Histology

Each pathology diagnosis and numbers of each and proportion of all diagnoses.  There can be numerous subtypes; so for subset analyses, best to group these together, which is facilitated by sorting alphabetically.  For instance, a lung cancer file had 48 histologies, but these could be grouped into adeno, squamous, neuroendocrine, small cell, and others. Also allows quality check to exclude histologies such as lymphoma and sarcoma that occurred in that site.

General Stage

Numbers and percentages by local, regional, distant, and unknown stage and substages of regional to include direct extentsion, lymph node involvement, or both.  This is assigned by registrars and is the staging used by SEER.

Summary AJCC Stage Group

Stages I, II, III, IV with A, B, C subsets.  Because of detail required, much higher percentage likely to be classified as unknown stage.  For instance in a lung cancer report, only 2% had an unknown general stage, but 20% had an unknown AJCC stage.  Furthermore, AJCC stage definitions have changed over time, making it hard to use for historical  comparisons.

Age at Diagnosis

Numbers and percentages by age. Easy to detect some errors.  For instance, in one lung report, 6 of 1,334 were listed as heaving a negative age. By sorting, can readily see age range.

Race

White, Black, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, other Asian, Filipino, American Indian, other, and unknown.  Have to combine with ethnicity if want to do subset analysis on Hispanics and/or non-Hispanic Whites. 

Accession Year

Shows number and percentage of cases by year of diagnosis and accession into the registry.

Grade

Undifferentiated/anaplastic, poorly-, moderately- , or well-, differentiated, or unknown.  Useful prognostic marker.

Class of Case

Non-analytical had already been excluded; so these were; [1] 1^st DX here, Rx here, [2] 1^st Dx elsewhere, Rx here, and [3] 1^st DX here, Rx elsewhere. Useful to determine outmigration of patients for therapy, and referral of patients for therapy.

Dx Confirmation Code

Numbers and percentages by positive histology, positive cytology without histologic confirmation, radiographic diagnosis only, clinical diagnosis only, unknown, and others

Ethnicity

Non-Spanish, Spanish, Mexican , Cuban, etc. Can be combined with Race to create large groups such as Asian, Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic White

Sex

Number and percentage by gender: male, female, and other

Primary Payer

HMO, PPO, Medicare, Medicaid, Uninsured, Medicare through managed care, Medicare with supplement, and others

Primary Medical Oncologist

Name and percentage of cases, including none. However, reflects MD of record at time of initial diagnosis, and not uncommon for patients to change physicians in the course of care, and sometime non-med oncs listed.

Primary Surgeon

Name and percentage of cases, including none.  Because of surgical reports at diagnosis, names listed are accurate

Rx Type

Treatments in order by number and percentage.  Needs to be sorted alphabetically to group.  Options include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy immunotherapy, and various combinations, and “other.”  Common inaccuracies in the systemic therapies listed, especially if not started until after completion of surgery and radiation and/or if treatment was given in physician’s infusion center rather than in a hospital-based facility.