“Large Scale Consumers” in Pathology

The surgical pathologic and cytologic data of Tampere University Central Hospital, Finland, were analyzed for evidence of variations in the utilization of pathologic resources by the patients. The data management system in this hospital with 1200 beds operates on a DEC PDP 11/23 computer running on MUMPS and File manager systems. The total number of patients in the files was 51139 and they had 91443 specimens of various types. 50 (0, 01%) patients with 15 or more specimens were found. Median age of these was 67 yers (range 17–87) and there was a predominance of men with a ratio of 2, 4:1. These 50 patients had 942 specimens (0, 01%). The great majority of patients were investigated for suspected lung disease. The majority of specimens were cytologic (73%) and most of all sputum samples (33%). There were 244 (26%) tissue biopsies. The final diagnosis was revealed to be cancer in 26 (52%) patients which included 12 lung cancers, 3 urinary bladder cancers and 3 malignant lymphomas. We conclude that the contribution of the pathologist may be essential in diagnosing these patients with a large amount of specimens. Miscellaneous clinical follow-up methods also increase the number of specimens sent to the pathologist.