Completeness and accuracy of voluntary reporting to a national case registry of laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Objective. To validate completeness and accuracy of registry data reported from three randomly chosen departments contributing to The Danish National Registry of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, covering all departments offering cholecystectomy. Data sources. A total of 431 case reports representing cases of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a 2-year period in three surgical departments. Design. Comparison of case reports with reported data in The Danish National Registry of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Main outcome measures. Rates of discrepancies, comparison of complication rates for cases in the registry and cases not reported to the registry. Results. Completeness of registration was 69%, 80% and 99% respectively. A significantly higher degree of completeness was found in the only department with a formalized registration procedure. Inaccuracies were found in 28-49% of the cases, but none regarding serious complications such as bile duct injury or perioperative death. Conclusions. The information in the national registry may be accurate if the present findings can be extrapolated to the remaining departments in the country. The number of non-reported cases should be minimized by introducing a formalized procedure of handling and forwarding information to the registry. Continuous validation through external visits by registry staff to contributing departments may also be advisable.