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Pathology Data

The Cancer Care Ontario ePath system receives over 1.5 million cancer pathology report messages each year. These are attributed to 100,000 unique cancer pathology reports, for 90% of cancer incident cases diagnosed in Ontario.

The ePath system captures cancer pathology reports on surgical resections, biopsies, cytology, bone marrow, haematology, biomarker and autopsies.

About Pathology Reports

All pathology reports are transmitted and received in HL7 version 2.5.1 “Unsolicited Observation/Event R01” message type (ORU^R01). Each report contains banner items derived from various locations in the HL7 message. These are required data elements for all pathology reports and apply to patient, provider, procedure and facility level information.

In addition to the required banner item information, each pathology report contains additional sections for:

  • clinical diagnosis and comments
  • clinical history
  • tissue submitted
  • gross pathology
  • microscopic
  • final diagnosis

For more details on technical specifications for transmitting data to Cancer Care Ontario, see Cancer Care Ontario's Data Book.

Find out more about Synoptic Pathology Reporting. 

For additional information on Cancer Care Ontario ePath and how to submit data, please email pathology@cancercare.on.ca.