Dictionary Releases
A dictionary release happens when there has been an update to the clinical dataset in the ARGO Data Dictionary. Dictionary releases happen whenever needed.
Release 1.24
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Updates
- Expanded interval fields:
treatment_start_interval
,interval_of_followup
,relapse_interval
,test_interval
to accept negative numbers to record any clinical events which happened prior to primary diagnosis. - Added 3 new optional fields:
drug_database
,drug_id
anddrug_term
toChemotherapy
,Hormone Therapy
andImmunotherapy
tables to support the submission of non-RxNorm drugs.
Release 1.23
Release Date: August 19, 2024
Updates
- Expanded
specimen_acquisition_interval
to accept negative numbers to record any specimens which was collected prior to primary diagnosis. - Added two new optional fields
radiation_boost
andreference_radiation_treatment_id
inRadiation
schema to denote radiation boost.
Release 1.22
Release Date: April 18, 2024
Updates
- New permissible term
mg
added tochemotherapy_drug_dose_units
,hormone_drug_dose_units
andimmunotherapy_drug_dose_units
fields.
Release 1.21
Release Date: Feburary 07, 2024
Updates
- New permissible term
End of life care
added totreatment_type
field in Treatment table. - Updated validation scripts for conditional fields
percent_tumour_cell
andpercent_tumour_cells_measurement_method
fields to take into account clinical exception values.
Release 1.20
Release Date: October 30, 2023
Updates
- Updated validation scripts for required field
treatment_type
in treatment table to take into account clinical exception valueUnknown
.
Release 1.19
Release Date: October 18, 2023
Updates
- New optional field called
lost_to_followup_after_clinical_event_id
added to Donor table to allow data submitters to indicate whether donor was lost to follow up after a clinical event. - New permissible terms (
Cell line – derived from metastatic tumour
andXenograft – derived from metastatic tumour
) added tospecimen_type
field in Sample Registration table. - Updated regular expression condition for all identifier fields to prevent invalid characters from being submitted.
- New permissible term
Physician assessed progressive disease
added toresponse_to_treatment
field in Treatment table.
Release 1.18
Release Date: August 25, 2023
Updates
- Updated validation scripts for conditional fields
tumour_grade
,lymph_nodes_examined_method
andprescribed_cumulative_drug_dose
andactual_cumulative_drug_dose
fields to take into account clinical exception values.
Release 1.17
Release Date: May 11, 2023
Updates
- Updated
anatomic_site_progression_or_recurrence
field in Follow Up table to accept multiple values. - Added new permissible term (
Tumour - unknown if derived from primary or metastatic
) tospecimen_type
field in Sample Registration table. - Added new required core field
percent_tumour_cells_measurement_method
in Specimen table. - Fixed minor bug in validation script for existing
lymph_nodes_examined_method
field in Primary Diagnosis table.
Release 1.16
Release Date: January 5, 2023
Updates
- Added new term
Unknown primary site
to the controlled terminology for theprimary_site
field in the Donor table. - Added 6 new terms (
Supportive
,Diagnostic
,Preventative
,Guidance
,Screening
,Forensic
) to the controlled terminology for thetreatment_intent
field in the Treatment table. - Added 8 new terms (
Conditioning
,Induction
,Locally advanced
,Maintenance
,Mobilization
,Preventative
,Radiosensitization
,Salvage
) to the controlled terminology for thetreatment_setting
field in the Treatment table. The termNot applicable
was removed. If required, programs will need to apply for a clinical exception. - Removed
Unknown
fromis_primary_treatment
field. If required, programs will need to apply for a clinical exception. - Added a new required
response_to_treatment_criteria_method
field in the Treatment table. This field consists of a list of response criteria methods, in addition to RECIST. - Added new terms for response criteria in the
response_to_treatment
field in the Treatment table. The value submitted in this field will be validated against theresponse_to_treatment_criteria_method
field to ensure the correct response criteria term is submitted. - Added a new required
lymph_nodes_examined_method
field in the Primary Diagnosis table. - Updated validation to permit the
pathological_m_category
field in the Specimen table to be submitted as "Not applicable" if AJCC 7th or 8th editions used. - Changed data tier for the
recurrence_tumour_staging_system
field in the Follow Up table so it is no longer a core field. - Updated foreignKey attribute for ID fields in the Specimen, Treatment, Follow up and Biomarker tables.
- Added new
prescribed_cumulative_drug_dose
field and renamed existingcumulative_drug_dose
field toactual_cumulative_drug_dose
in the Chemotherapy and Hormone Therapy tables. Added new fields forprescribed_cumulative_drug_dose
andactual_cumulative_drug_dose
in the Immunotherapy table. Either field can be submitted. Replaceddosage
withdose
for consistency purposes. - Corrected term
Revised International staging system (RISS)
in the tumour_staging_system fields toR-ISS
instead ofRISS
.
Release 1.15
Release Date: September 23, 2022
Updates
- Added four new terms ('Hemithyroidectomy', 'Near-total thyroidectomy', 'Subtotal thyroidectomy' and 'Total thyroidectomy') to the controlled terminology for the
surgery_type
field in the Surgery table.
Release 1.14
Release Date: June 16, 2022
Updates
A new clinical table has been added to the dictionary along with the file template download for submission:
- Surgery: The collection of data elements related to a donor's surgical treatment at a specific point in the clinical record. For treatment regimens that include surgery, these details can now be submitted in this table. Refer to Submitting data in Surgery file documentation for guidelines on how to submit clinical data in this table.
The following updates are also included:
- Addition of 'Unknown' and 'Not applicable' terms to controlled terminology for extended clinical fields. Refer to Submitting Missing Values for Extended Clinical Fields documentation on how to submit these values.
- Added new term ("Oral contraceptive pill") to controlled terminology for contraception_type field.
- Corrected Data Tier for family_relative_id to 'ID'.
Release 1.13
Release Date: November 17, 2021
Updates
- The "AJCC 6th Edition" has been added to the controlled terminology for tumour staging systems. This will allow data submitters to submit TNM categories and stage groups for the AJCC 6th Edition.
- Optional clinical fields related to dose intensity reduction have been added to the Chemotherapy table. These include
dose_intensity_reduction
,dose_intensity_reduction_event
anddose_intensity_reduction_amount
. - Optional clinical fields related to laterality have been added. These include the
laterality
field in the Primary Diagnosis table and thespecimen_laterality
field in the Specimen table. - Removed the term "Unknown" from the controlled terminology of the core
vital_status
clinical field so it is consistent with other core clinical fields. - Updated notes to clarify requirements for certain fields:
- Added clarification about why the comorbidity_type_code field is "Conditional".
- Updated description of age_at_menarche field to indicate it should be submitted in years.
- Updated notes for number_lymph_nodes_examined field to indicate it is only required if lymph_nodes_examined_status is 'Yes'.
- Updated notes for percent_proliferating_cells, percent_inflammatory_tissue, percent_stromal_cells and percent_necrosis fields in the Specimen table to indicate that they should only be submitted if the specimen is tumour.
- Added clarification on how to submit fields in Biomarker table.
- Changed
radiation_therapy_dosage
to accept number instead of integer. - Updated controlled terminology for
anatomical_site_irradiated
.
Bug fixes:
- Added
sample_registration
file to download templates from Dictionary Viewer page
Release 1.12
Release Date: September 02, 2021
Updates
According to AJCC Guidelines 8th Ed. if TX or NX categories are used, such cases usually cannot be assigned a stage group. In such a case, the data submitter will be allowed to submit "Cannot be assessed" for the
stage_group
field. However, there are exceptions according to the guidelines as follows:Stage may be assigned when the TNM stage group results in Any T or Any N with M1, which includes TX or NX e.g. (
TX NX M1
, orTX N3 M1
). These are classified as Stage IV.Stage may be assigned when the TNM stage group results in Any T or Any N with M0, which includes TX or NX e.g. (
TX N1 M0
Stage III in melanoma clinical stage orT4 NX M0
Stage III in pancreas).
Added
pipe
as a term toexposure.tobacco_type
controlled terminology.
Bug Fixes
- An incorrect abbreviation used in a field name in the Biomarker table. The biomarker is related to lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), not low-density lipoprotein (LDL), thus
biomarker.ldl_level
was adjusted tobiomarker.ldh_level
.
Release 1.11
Release Date: July 21, 2021
Updates
A new clinical table has been added to the dictionary along with the file template downloads for submission:
- Biomarker: The collection of data elements describing a donor's biomarker tests. A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is indicative of the presence of cancer in the body.
Bug Fixes
- If
survival_time
field is submitted,then all other interval times should be less than that. Thetreatment.treatment_start_interval
andfolowup.interval_of_followup
fields are now being validated correctly against this rule.
Release 1.10
Release Date: June 08, 2021
Updates
Two new clinical tables have been added to the dictionary along with the file template downloads for submission:
Exposure: A donor's clinically relevant information not immediately resulting from genetic predispositions (e.g diet, drug use, smoking).
Comorbidity: A donor's comorbidities are any medical condition that has existed or may occur during the clinical course of the donor who has the index disease under study (e.g diabetes, prior cancer malignancies).
Bug Fixes
immuotherapy.immunotherapy_type
was not marked as a required field. It is now correctly identified.follow_up.anatomic_site_progression_or_recurrences
was misnamed as a plural field; it has been corrected tofollow_up.anatomic_site_progression_or_recurrence
.
Release 1.9
Release Date: May 10, 2021
Updates
- Integer fields now all contain validation based on the acceptable ranges allowed for those fields.
primary_site
now accepts multiple values.- Optional clinical fields detailing genetic disorders, hormone replacement therapy and contraception details have been added to the
Donor
file. - Validation was added to ensure that hematological_toxicity is only included for hematological toxicity types and non-hematological_toxicity is only included for non-hematological toxicity types:
toxicity_type | hematological_toxicity | non-hematological_toxicity |
---|---|---|
Hematological | Allowed to be submitted | Should not be submitted |
Non-hematological | Should not be submitted | Allowed to be submitted |
- Validation was added to ensure that if a treatment has been marked as the
primary_treatment
, it is not assigned an advancedline of treatment
:
is_primary_treatment | line_of_treatment |
---|---|
No | Allowed to have a value |
Yes or Unknown | Should be left empty |
Bug Fixes
- Some fields/permissible values in the treatment table containing the word
hematological
were misspelledhemotological
. These have all been resolved. height
,weight
andbmi
can now be submitted as decimal values.
Release 1.8
Release Date: April 27, 2021
Updates
Two new clinical tables have been added to the dictionary and the file template downloads for submission:
Immunotherapy: For treatment regimens that include immunotherapy, these details can now be submitted. Similar to the
chemotherapy
andhormone_therapy
,immunotherapy
drugs are recorded using the standardized vocabulary from the RxNorm database, provided by the NIH.Family History: A donor's familial relationships and familial cancer history.
The following updates are also included:
- Validation has been added so that when the
treatment_type = No Treatment
, non-applicable core fields do not need to be submitted.
Bug Fixes
Previously missing stage groups
Stage IVE
andStage IVS
for Ann Arbor staging system has been added, as well as adding support for theStage II bulky
for the Lugano staging system.In the
primary_diagnosis
table, there was a misleading combination of fields indicating the status/number of lymph nodes examined during clinical diagnosis. When thenumber_lymph_nodes_examined
is left blank, a value of 0 fornumber_lymph_nodes_positive
could be misinterpreted as several things:- an unknown number of lymph nodes were tested or
- none were found to be positive for cancer or
- no lymph nodes were examined.
To make this more accurate to clinical use cases, a new field lymph_nodes_examined_status
has been added to indicate if lymph nodes were examined. Depending on the status, the required number_of_lymph_nodes_examined
and number_of_lymph_nodes_positive
can now accurately reflect clinical use cases. For example:
lymph_nodes_examined_status | number_lymph_nodes_examined | number_lymph_nodes_positive |
---|---|---|
Yes | Optional: If left blank, this means unknown/missing. If number is submitted, it must be greater than 0 | Required: If number_lymph_nodes_examined is > 0, then number_lymph_nodes_positive >= number_lymph_nodes_examined |
No | 0 or left blank | Should be left blank |
Not applicable | 0 or left blank | Should be left blank |
No lymph nodes found in resected specimen | 0 or left blank | Should be left blank |
Cannot be determined | 0 or left blank | Should be left blank |
Release 1.5
Release Date: December 11, 2020
The following updates are included:
- Removed ID prefix restriction and all notes referencing this restriction.
Release 1.3
Release Date: November 24, 2020
The following updates are included:
- Changed Attribute for percent_proliferating_cells, percent_inflammatory_tissue, percent_stromal_cells and percent_necrosis fields from Required to Conditional.
- Updated description for cumulative_drug_dosage field to indicate that the actual drug dose should be submitted.
- Added two new terms ("Swelling in the Neck" and "Not Reported") to controlled terminology for presenting_symptoms field.
Initial Dictionary Release 1.0
Release Date: June 19, 2020
ICGC ARGO is excited to announce its initial data dictionary release, established as the minimum set of clinical data elements that the ARGO Data Platform requires. This includes:
- Basic Donor, Specimen, and Sample data
- Donor clinical record information including Primary Diagnosis, Follow Up and Treatment data
Future releases will extend clinical data concepts and integrations of standard clinical data elements.