Cancer registry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and tumor diseases. The data is collected by Cancer Registrars. Cancer Registrars capture a complete summary of patient history, diagnosis, treatment, and status for every cancer patient in the United States, and other countries as well. National Cancer Registrars Association
There exist population-based cancer registries and hospital cancer registries (also called hospital-based cancer registries).
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[edit] Population-based Cancer Registry
Population-based cancer registries monitor the frequency (so-called incidence) of cancer diseases between regions and over time by collecting case reports from different sources (clinicians and pathologists). If an unexpected accumulation can be observed a hypothesis about possible causes is generated. This hypothesis is investigated in a second step by collecting more detailed data. The aim is to recognize and to reduce risks. Population-based registries can also monitor the effects of preventive measures.
[edit] Hospital Cancer Registry
Hospital cancer registries aim at the improvement of cancer therapy. Therefore they have to collect detailed data about diagnosis and therapy. Improvements can be achieved by:
- comparison of therapy - which therapy is the best
- comparison of therapists - which hospital, which physician has the best results under the same conditions (quality management)
- support of treatment - registries can improve information about a patient and help to provide an optimal treatment by planning therapies and generating reminders
[edit] Co-operation of Registries
Since the data needed by hospital cancer registries usually include those of population-based cancer registries and both use the same classifications data can be sent from a hospital cancer registry to a population-based registry thus reducing documentation efforts.
