Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Data Element Concept |
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METEOR identifier: | 269644 |
Registration status: | Health, Standard 01/03/2005 |
Definition: | Laterality describes which side of a paired organ is the origin of the primary cancer. Each side of a paired organ is considered separately and described as lateral when occurring unless a physician determines that it is bilateral. A paired organ is one in which there are two separate organs of the same kind, one on either side of the body (e.g. kidney, breast, ovary, testis and lung). |
Context: | This information is collected for the purpose of differentiating the site of the primary cancer. For example, a woman may present with a primary cancer in the left breast. She may return at a later stage with a new primary cancer in the right breast. |