National multicentric evaluation of quality of pathology reports for rectal cancer in France in 2016
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Abstract
The quality of pathologic assessment of rectal cancer specimens is crucial for treatment efficiency and survival. The Royal College of Pathologists (RCP) recommends evaluating the quality of the pathology report in routine practice using three quality indicators (QIs): the number of lymph nodes (LNs) analyzed (≥ 12), the rate of venous invasion (VI ≥ 30%), and peritoneal involvement (pT4a ≥ 10%). In this study, we evaluated the three QIs of the French national pathology reports and compared them with British guidelines and assessed the influence of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy on QIs. From January 1 to December 31, 2016, all pathology reports for rectal adenocarcinoma were collected from French departments. Neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy included long-course radiotherapy with concomitant 5-FU-based chemotherapy. A total of 983 rectal cancer pathology reports were evaluated. A median of 15 LNs were analyzed and 81% of centers had ≥ 12 LNs. The rate of VI was 30% and 41% of centers had ≥ 30% VI. The rate of pT4a was 4% and 18% of centers reported ≥ 10% pT4a. None of the centers reached the threshold for the three QIs. All three QIs were lower after radiochemotherapy compared to surgery alone. In conclusion, in French routine practice, the values of two of the three QIs (LNs analyzed and VI) were globally in line with RCP guidelines. However, the rate of pT4a was very low, particularly after radiochemotherapy, suggesting its low value in rectal cancer.
Keywords
Rectal cancer Pathology report Quality report Neoadjuvant radiochemotherapyNotes
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Pr E Rullier for the revision of the manuscript.
Contribution statement
C Boutanos and A Rullier conceived and designed the study and wrote, edited, and reviewed the manuscript. C Boutanos and M Capdepont researched and analyzed data. All authors gave the final approval for publication. A Rullier takes full responsibility for the work as a whole, including the study design, access to data, and the decision to submit and publish the manuscript.
Compliance with ethical standards
In this work, all pathology reports were anonymized before analysis. Therefore, no informed consent was obtained.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Supplementary material
References
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