AFTER CANCER: WHAT IS A CANCER REGISTRY?

Posted in Cancer on March 12th, 2009

In Australia each state has its own Central Cancer Registry where hospitals are required to send information on cancer statistics. There is a move to develop hospital-based cancer registries along the lines of the US model, which enables hospitals and doctors to follow the course and outcome of their patients diagnosed and treated for cancer.

In the United States a cancer registry is a hospital-based person or group who collects information about patients diagnosed with, or treated for, cancer at that hospital. “Cancer registry” is also the name for the bank of information. Many hospitals have developed a separate department devoted to collecting, computerizing, and analyzing this information. Usually individual cancer patient’s oncologists or primary care physicians are responsible for keeping the registry informed about their patients’ cancer (present or absent, stable or progressive), any recurrences, the initial treatment received for the cancer, and any cancer-directed treatment received each year after the original diagnosis.

Analysis of the data is one way to gain information about the incidence of the various types of cancer, relative effectiveness of various treatment options, relative success of one hospital’s treatments compared to national standards, and the outcome of patients who receive various treatments.

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