Rapid Case Ascertainment

Leadership

Andrew Olshan, DrPH and Tara Smith Strigo, MPH

Services

RCA is an acceleration of the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry's (NCCCR) reporting process - from 6 months to 1 month. The NCCCR and its ability to provide a RCA system has made N.C. a national leader in population-based cancer research. Without RCA, such research is not possible because peer reviewers and agencies will not fund the research.

Rapid Case Ascertainment Purpose

• Provide support to the CCR and local hospitals for rapid case ascertainment
• Facilitate cancer prevention and control research that requires early contact with patients
• Identify potential cases prior to death or significant morbidity
• Allow timely interviewing and biologic specimen collection
• Allow researchers to contact patients who live across the state

Rapid Case Ascertainment Core Expands Services

The Rapid Case Ascertainment Core now offers our services to obtain medical records from hospitals, free-standing cancer centers, clinics, physician’s offices, and other treatment facilities for consenting patients participating in approved research projects. Our certified tumor registrar will review and abstract medical record data demographics, history and extent of disease, diagnostic procedures, initial and follow-up treatment, and outcome) and enter it into your study-specific database according to study protocol and time line. We will also offer our services to retrieve diagnostic tumor blocks or slides from hospitals, free-standing cancer centers, clinics, physician’s offices, pathologists, and other treatment facilities for enrolled subjects, track receipt and processing of blocks in your study-specific database, deliver blocks to the study pathologist/lab for processing, and return all tumor blocks to originating facilities.

The Core does not charge for its services. Users pay a per-case ascertainment fee ($15) directly to hospitals for pathology reports, as well as monetary support for RCA staff.

Location

Most activities of the Rapid Case Ascertainment staff are based at the N.C. Central Cancer Registry in Raleigh, NC

Hours

8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Contact Information

Main Contact: Tara Smith Strigo, 919-966-0032 (p), 919-966-0162 (f), email

Staff

Dr. Andrew Olshan, Faculty Director
Tara Strigo, Facility Director
Karen Knight, Director, NCSCHS
Chandrika Rao, Acting Director, NCCCR

Dianne Kaleel, RCA Coordinator, 919-715-4560 (p), 919-715-1637 (f), email
Sarah Walden, RCA Coordinator, 919-715-9131 (p), 919-715-1637 (f), email

For More Information

The Research Process

Researchers contact RCA and NCCCR to discuss their upcoming proposal or grant.
Individual projects receive IRB approval, and then approval from NCCCR.
Registrars provide pathology reports, demographics and physician contact information of potentially eligible patients to RCA within 1 month of diagnosis.
Eligible patients’ data are entered in a database.
A brochure outlining NCCCR’s role and notification of possible contact by researchers is mailed to eligible patients.
Data are delivered to the research project. Individual projects will then:

• notify physician of intent to contact eligible patient;
• mail invitation letter explaining study to eligible patient;
• obtain consent;
• and administer in-home / telephone interviews, and if applicable, collect specimens and provide incentives.