Use case 5: Coding kidney biopsies for local research registries: RedCap database in Erlangen using KBC

Diagnostic nephropathology units build repositories of their kidney biopsies and need to use a coding system to retrieve biopsies for personal education, other educational tasks and research projects. Laboratory information systems often do not provide appropriate coding systems for specific applications such as medical renal biopsy diagnostics. The KBC system is well suited for this task. The nephropathology department in Erlangen has used KBC codes as a coding system for their local RedCap kidney biopsy database. The user interface for coding specific biopsies provides the hierarchical structure of the RBC system. An additional qualifier for certainty for every diagnosis could be used (figure 2).

This system has been in a pilot phase in 2020 and is operational since 2021.

The experiences are overall good, and the pathologists of Erlangen indicate that they like the intuitive approach provided by the structure of the KBC system and the completeness of the codes. They have plans to connect their database with another local database in order to be able to assemble more cases for projects. This application illustrates how the KBC system can be of use also to local registries and enhances user friendliness when integrated in a digital environment.

(contact persons Kerstin Amann and Maike Buttner)

At the University Hospital of Ghent, Belgian, there are also plans for a local glomerulonephritis research registry and biobank, for which a similar approach will be used (contact person Amélie Dendooven).

In the West Norway Health Region a strategic research project is developing machine learning algorithms for non-neoplastic kidney diseases. This project intends to use KBC to label annotations of kidney lesions. (contact Sabine Leh)

Figure 2: Screenshot from a RedCap database for a local registry of kidney biopsies using the KBC system