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 chole cystectomy. 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.