Advancing synoptic cancer reports beyond English: the University of Bern/PathoLink approach

Abstract

Synoptic reporting (SR) increases completeness and improves the understanding of pathology reports for tumours as compared to the more traditional “narrative” style. Furthermore, it is an important step towards higher levels of structured data capture [1]. SR is defined by a set of required data elements (RDE) specific for each tumour type and a characteristic paired format of RDE and response. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) requires accredited pathology laboratories to report many cancer types in a synoptic format and for this purpose publishes a comprehensive set of protocols [2]. More recently, the International Collaboration for Cancer Reporting (ICCR)—sponsored amongst others by the European Society of Pathology—has started to publish synoptic protocols with the aim to “produce internationally standardised and evidence-based datasets for the pathology reporting of cancer