Text area for information that is given only in coded form elsewhere or for which the abstract provides no other place. Overflow data can also be placed here. Problematic coding issues can also be discussed in this section.

Text documentation is an essential component of a complete electronic report and is heavily utilized for quality control and special studies. Text is needed to justify coded values and to document supplemental information not transmitted within coded values. High-quality text documentation facilitates consolidation of information from multiple reporting sources at the central registry. 

Instructions

• NAACCR-approved abbreviations should be utilized (see Appendix G).
• Do not repeat information from other text fields.
• Additional comments from other text fields can be continued in the Remarks field. For text documentation that is continued from one text field to another, use asterisks or other symbols to indicate the connection with preceding text.
• If information is missing from the record, state that it is missing.
• Do not include irrelevant information.
• Do not include information that the registry is not authorized to collect.

Note: For software that allows unlimited text, NAACCR recommends that the software indicate to the reporter the portion of the text that will be transmitted to the central registry. 

Suggestions for text:

• Smoking history
• Family and personal history of cancer
• Comorbidities
• Information on sequence numbers if a person was diagnosed with another primary out-of-state or before the registry’s reference date
• Place of birth
• Justification of over-ride flags
• Information clarifying anything unusual such as reason for reporting a case seemingly not reportable for that facility or reason for coding numerous fields as “unknown.”