Registry Down Under
Today's sessions opened up with a view of the past and present in clinical staging. Donna Gress, RHIT, CTR, technical specialist with the American Joint Committee on Cancer, touted the value of clinical staging, went through the T, N and M category assessments from the AJCC 6th Edition Cancer Staging Manual, providing cautions along the way. Gress then explained some of the changes to clinical staging that will be heralded in with the release of the AJCC 7th Edition Cancer Staging Manual in August, which will be applied to cases after Jan. 1, 2010.
The first chapter of the manual will expand, providing more detail and guidance to registrars, and some rules will change. These changes will be detailed in future Webinars and talks. Node biopsies and sentinel nodes will change from the 6th edition to the 7th. The audience of registrars applauded when Gress revealed that the M category, which indicates if cancer has metastized, will no longer have the use of MX as an option. MX indicates that metastasis is unknown.
Later in the morning, registrars gathered in the general hall for the International Plenary Series. Registrars from Australia shared their stories of establishing cancer registry in their country. With no standards, physicians who regarded the budding registrars as "spies" and a program that just kicked off in 2005, the registries down under have faced many challenges and are still trying to gain footing. Valerie Poxon, RN, PhD, who heads up a registry team in New South Wales, told the audience that she hoped for American help in getting cancer registries throughout the country. "We want to become your adopted children," Dr. Poxon said.
Right now, registrars are flocking the nearly 200 restaurants within a 5-block radius of the New Orleans Sheraton, enjoying a 2-hour lunch break. This afternoon, they'll take in breakout sessions and pack it in rather early, as the sessions end at 5 p.m.