Review of tissue diagnosis & its role in cancer care: One year experience from a regional cancer care Institute of Eastern India

Background & objectives Review of tissue diagnosis is indispensable for any comprehensive tertiary cancer care centre, because a significant bulk of cases are primarily diagnosed peripherally and referred in a hub-and-spoke model. The primary objective of the study was to estimate the proportion of diagnostic discrepancies of the review cases over a period of one year and to identify the probable factors behind these discrepancies. Methods An observational descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study was planned in the department of Laboratory Medicine in a regional cancer institute of Eastern India encompassing all the cases undergoing review (both slides and tissue blocks) in the period between June 2023 and May 2024. Results Total 2551 cases were submitted for review within the study period. Among them 24 caused extreme diagnostic difficulty only because of poor processing. Total 171 cases among 2551 were found to carry significant diagnostic discrepancy (6.7%). A re-biopsy was advised in 69 cases, as essential. Interpretation & conclusions Although many a times the cost of review or the time consumed may pose a problem, a second opinion or a pathologic review is a patient safety mechanism, especially in the setting of cancer.