Abstracting That Moves With the Patient

Cancer case abstracting is not linear.
It should move with the patient.

For decades, cancer registry abstracting has been linear, cases stacking up, abstracts finalized months after diagnosis, and data delivered after the patient’s treatment was complete. This retrospective approach has created reporting delays, backlogs, and stale information that can no longer influence care.

Concurrent abstracting turns that model upside down. Instead of waiting, registrars capture data in phases and in near real time—diagnosis, staging, first treatment, recurrence, follow-up. Each step builds the case progressively, creating a living record.

This phased process spreads the workload, reduces the crushing end-of-year scramble, improves accuracy and data quality, and provides physicians and administrators with insights they can use today.  (Merriman et al, JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, 2021). Patients benefit when their providers care decisions are informed by current, not outdated, information (Palis et al, Ann Surg Oncol, 2024).

Concurrent abstracting does not just modernize workflow—it redefines the cancer registry as a real-time partner in cancer care.

Is your registry stalled out using linear methodology, or are you keeping pace with the patient?

＼ Get the latest news ／