Evaluation of Turnaround Times of Diagnostic Biopsies: A Metric of Quality in Surgical Pathology

Abstract

Introduction. Timely and accurate diagnosis of diseases is crucial for effective patient care. Turnaround time (TAT) in surgical pathology, defined as the time between accessioning the sample and reporting results, is a key performance indicator reflecting quality and efficiency. This study explores factors affecting TAT for diagnostic biopsies in a tertiary oncology hospital. Methods. A 1-month pilot study was conducted, focusing on 695 in-house diagnostic biopsies. Biopsies were categorized as routine (requiring only hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining) or complex cases (requiring additional tests). TAT was defined as the time between sample accessioning and report availability in the electronic medical record, with delays defined as exceeding 3 days for routine cases and 4 days for complex cases. Survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier plots was utilized to analyze TAT. Results. The overall mean TAT was 3.7 ± 2 days, with routine cases at 3.1 ± 2 days and complex cases at 4.8 ± 2 days ( P < 0.001). Survival analysis revealed prolonged TAT for complex cases. Organ-specific analysis highlighted variations in TAT, with brain biopsies presenting the highest complexity and longest TAT. Surprisingly, malignant cases demonstrated slightly shorter TATs compared to benign cases ( P = 0.026). Delays were observed in 34% of all cases. Conclusions. Laboratory TAT is crucial and is frequently used as a performance benchmark. We analyzed the various causes of delayed TAT in our hospital's histopathology department, with an emphasis on variables in the analytical phase. The results of this study demonstrate that cases involving ancillary techniques had significantly longer TATs compared to routine H&E cases.