IMPORTANCE OF RADIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY COMMUNICATION IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND STAGING OF CANCER
Main Article Content
Keywords
Pathology, Radiology, Quality Improvement, Health Information Technology, Standards, Interoperability
Abstract
Pathology and radiology form the core of cancer diagnosis, yet the workflows of both specialties remain ad hoc and occur in separate "silos," with no direct linkage between their case accessioning and/or reporting systems, even when both departments belong to the same host institution. Because both radiologists' and pathologists' data are essential to making correct diagnoses and appropriate patient management and treatment decisions, this isolation of radiology and pathology workflows can be detrimental to the quality and outcomes of patient care. These detrimental effects underscore the need for pathology and radiology workflow integration and for systems that facilitate the synthesis of all data produced by both specialties. With the enormous technological advances currently occurring in both fields, the opportunity has emerged to develop an integrated diagnostic reporting system that supports both specialties and, therefore, improves the overall quality of patient care.
References
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3. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; US Department of Health and Human Services. The Importance of Radiology and Pathology Communication in the Diagnosis and Staging of Cancer: Mammography as a Case Study. Washington, DC; 2010. [Google Scholar]
4. International Breast Consensus Conference. Image-detected breast cancer: state of the art diagnosis and treatment. J Am Coll Surg. 2001;193:297–302. doi: 10.1016/s1072-7515(01)01017-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
5. Tucker F. New era pathologic techniques in the diagnosis and reporting of breast cancers. Semin Breast Dis. 2008;11:140–147. doi: 10.1053/j.sembd.2009.04.010. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
6. Travis W, Brambilla E, Noguchi M, Nicholson A, Geisinger K, Yatabe Y, Beer D, Powell C, Riely GJ, Van Schil PE, Garg K, Austin JH, Asamura H, Rusch VW, Hirsch FR, Scagliotti G, Mitsudomi T, Huber RM, Ishikawa Y, Jett J, Sanchez-Cespedes M, Sculier JP, Takahashi T, Tsuboi M, Vansteenkiste J, Wistuba I, Yang PC, Aberle D, Brambilla C, Flieder D. et al. International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society International multidisciplinary classification of lung adenocarcinoma. J Thorac Oncol. 2011;6:244–285. doi: 10.1097/JTO.0b013e318206a221. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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9. Liebow A, Carrington C. In: Frontiers of Pulmonary Radiology. Morris S, Potchen E, LeMay M, editor. New York, NY: Grune and Stratton; 1969. The interstitial pneumonias; pp. 102–141. [Google Scholar]
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11. Raghu G, Collard H, Egan J, Martinez F, Behr J, Brown K, Colby T, Cordier J, Flaherty K, Lasky J, Lynch DA, Ryu JH, Swigris JJ, Wells AU, Ancochea J, Bouros D, Carvalho C, Costabel U, Ebina M, Hansell DM, Johkoh T, Kim DS, King TE Jr, Kondoh Y, Myers J, Müller NL, Nicholson AG, Richeldi L, Selman M, Dudden RF. et al. An official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT statement: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and management. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2011;183:788–824. doi: 10.1164/rccm.2009-040GL. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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13. Lettieri C, Veerappan G, Parker J, Franks T, Hayden D, Travis W, Shorr A. Discordance between general and pulmonary pathologists in the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease. Respir Med. 2005;99:1425–1430. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2005.03.008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
14. Flaherty K, King TJ, Raghu G, Lynch J, Colby T, Travis W, Gross B, Kazerooni E, Toews G, Long Q, Murray S, Lama VN, Gay SE, Martinez FJ. Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia: what is the effect of a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis? Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2004;170:904–910. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200402-147OC. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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16. Murphey M, Kransdorf M. In: Enzinger and Weiss's Soft Tissue Tumors. 5. Weiss S, Goldblum J, editor. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Elsevier; 2008. Radiologic evaluation of soft tissue tumors; pp. 15–32. [Google Scholar]
17. Unni K, Inwards C, Bridge J, Kindblom L-G, Wold L. In: Tumors of the Bones and Joints (Atlas of Tumor Pathology Series IV) 1. Unni K, editor. Silver Spring, MD: American Registry of Pathology Press; 2005. Radiologic appearance of bone tumors; pp. 27–36. [Google Scholar]
18. Cahill AM, Nijs EL. Pediatric vascular malformations: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and the role of interventional radiology. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2011;34:691–doi: 10.1007/s00270-011-0123-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
19. Roychowdhury S, Iyer M, Robinson D, Lonigro R, Wu Y, Cao X, Kalyana-Sundaram S, Sam L, Balbin O, Quist M, Barrette T, Everett J, Siddiqui J, Kunju LP, Navone N, Araujo JC, Troncoso P, Logothetis CJ, Innis JW, Smith DC, Lao CD, Kim SY, Roberts JS, Gruber SB, Pienta KJ, Talpaz M, Chinnaiyan AM. Personalized oncology through integrative high-throughput sequencing: a pilot study. Sci Transl Med. 2011;3:111ra121. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3003161. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
20. About CAP electronic Cancer Checklists (CAP eCC) http://www.cap.org/apps/cap.portal?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt%7BactionForm.contentReference%7D=snomed%2Fabout_ecc.html&_state=maximized&_pa geLabel=cntvwr
21. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Supplement 145: whole slide microscopic image IOD and SOP classes. ftp://medical.nema.org/medical/dicom/2009/
22. Dunnick N, Langlotz C. The radiology report of the future: a summary of the 2007 Intersociety Conference. J Am Coll Radiol. 2008;5:626–629. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2007.12.015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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24. Opulencia P, Channin D, Raicu D, Furst J. Mapping LIDC, RadLex, and lung nodule image features. J Digit Imaging. 2011;24:256–270. doi: 10.1007/s10278-010-9285-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
25. Rubin D. Creating and curating a terminology for radiology: ontology modeling and analysis. J Digit Imaging. 2008;21:355–362. doi: 10.1007/s10278-007-9073-0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
26. Buckler A, Mulshine J, Gottlieb R, Zhao B, Mozley P, Schwartz L. The use of volumetric CT as an imaging biomarker in lung cancer. Acad Radiol. 2010;17:100– 106. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2009.07.030. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] 27. Shimauchi A, Giger M, Bhooshan N, Lan L, Pesce L, Lee J, Abe H, Newstead G. Evaluation of clinical breast MR imaging performed with prototype computer-aided diagnosis breast MR imaging workstation: reader study. Radiology. 2011;258:696– doi: 10.1148/radiol.10100409. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
28. van Klaveren R, Oudkerk M, Prokop M, Scholten E, Nackaerts K, Vernhout R, van Iersel C, van den Bergh K, van 't Westeinde S, van der Aalst C, Thunnissen E, Xu DM, Wang Y, Zhao Y, Gietema HA, de Hoop BJ, Groen HJ, de Bock GH, van Ooijen P, Weenink C, Verschakelen J, Lammers JW, Timens W, Willebrand D, Vink A, Mali W, de Koning HJ. Management of lung nodules detected by volume CT scanning. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:2221–2229. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0906085. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
29. Gallagher R, Schafer G, Redick M, Inciradi M, Smith W, Fan F, Tawfik O. Microcalcifications of the breast: a mammographic-histologic correlation study using a newly designed Path/Rad Tissue Tray. Ann Diagn Pathol. 2012;16:196–201. doi: 10.1016/j.anndiagpath.2011.10.007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
30. Tawfik O, Redick M. Integrated radiology/pathology service for breast cancer. Crit Values. 2009;2:23–26. [Google Scholar]
31. ACR launches American Institute for Radiologic Pathology.
32. http://gm.acr.org/MainMenuCategories/media_room/FeaturedCategories/PressRelea ses/ACRLaunchesAIRP.aspx
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Published
Apr 30, 2025
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How to Cite
Dr Manish Kumar Singh, Dr Sanjay Kumar Yadav, Dr Shivam Bhardwaj, & Dr Md. Sakib Anwer. (2025). IMPORTANCE OF RADIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY COMMUNICATION IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND STAGING OF CANCER. Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 32(3), 984-991. https://doi.org/10.53555/61d6br76
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Author Biographies
Dr Manish Kumar Singh
Associate professor, Department of pathology, Venkateswara institute of medical sciences
Dr Sanjay Kumar Yadav
Assistant Professor, Department of pathology, Venkateswara institute of medical sciences
Dr Shivam Bhardwaj
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, Rajshree medical research institute and hospital , Bareilly
Dr Md. Sakib Anwer
Assistant Professor, Department of pathology, Venkateswara institute of medical sciences
How to Cite
Dr Manish Kumar Singh, Dr Sanjay Kumar Yadav, Dr Shivam Bhardwaj, & Dr Md. Sakib Anwer. (2025). IMPORTANCE OF RADIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY COMMUNICATION IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND STAGING OF CANCER. Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, 32(3), 984-991. https://doi.org/10.53555/61d6br76