Abstract
BackgroundProstate cancer (PCa) is a leading male neoplasm in South Africa.ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to describe PCa using Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) clinical terms codes, which have the potential to generate more timely data.MethodsThe retrospective study design was used to analyse prostate biopsy data from our laboratories using SNOMED morphology (M) and topography (T) codes where the term ’prostate’ was captured in the narrative report. Using M code descriptions, the diagnosis, sub-diagnosis, sub-result and International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O-3) codes were assigned using a lookup table. Topography code descriptions identified biopsies of prostatic origin. Lookup tables were prepared using Microsoft Excel and combined with the data extracts using Access. Contingency tables reported M and T codes, diagnosis and sub-diagnosis frequencies.ResultsAn M and T code was reported for 88% (n = 22 009) of biopsies. Of these, 20 551 (93.37%) were of prostatic origin. A benign diagnosis (ICD-O-3:8000/0) was reported for 10 441 biopsies (50.81%) and 45.26% had a malignant diagnosis (n = 9302). An adenocarcinoma (8140/3) sub-diagnosis was reported for 88.16% of malignant biopsies (n = 8201). An atypia diagnosis was reported for 760 biopsies (3.7%). Inflammation (39.03%) and hyperplasia (20.82%) were the predominant benign sub-diagnoses.ConclusionOur study demonstrated the feasibility of generating PCa data using SNOMED codes from national laboratory data. This highlights the need for extending the results of our study to a national level to deliver timeous monitoring of PCa trends.
Highlights
Prostate cancer (PCa) was a leading male cancer in South Africa in 2012, while globally it is the second most frequently diagnosed neoplasm.[1]
Our study described here is the first attempt in South Africa to investigate reporting PCa using Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) codes by collating this information contained in the national laboratory data repository
The benefit of this mechanism for PCa reporting is that as biopsies are reported in the laboratory information system (LIS), the data replicated to the Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) will be conformed to report the biopsy diagnosis and sub-diagnosis within three months of diagnosis
Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) was a leading male cancer in South Africa in 2012, while globally it is the second most frequently diagnosed neoplasm.[1] A 2012 global cancer study reported an estimated age-specific incidence rate of 67.9 per 100 000 for South Africa, with an associated mortality rate of 26.4 per 100 000.1,2 Presentation with highly aggressive PCa in African men in South Africa has been described.[3,4]. Prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading male neoplasm in South Africa
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