• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.5367-5370
• /
• 2013

Background: Having knowledge or estimation of cancer incidence is necessary for planning and implementation of any cancer prevention and control programs. Population-based registries provide valuable information to achieve these objectives but require extra techniques to estimate the incidence rate. The present study aimed to estimate the esophageal cancer incidence using a log-linear method based on Tehran population-based cancer registry data. Materials and Methods: New cases of esophageal cancer reported by three sources of pathology reports, medical records, and death certificates to Tehran Metropolitan Area Cancer Registry Center during 2002-2006 were entered into the study and the incidence rate was estimated based on log-linear models. We used Akaike statistics to select the best-fit model. Results: During 2002-2006, 1,458 new cases of esophageal cancer were reported by the mentioned sources to the population-based cancer registry. Based on the reported cases, cancer incidence was 4.5 per 100,000 population and this was estimated to be 10.5 per 100,000 by the log-linear method. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that an estimated incidence for 2004 of 8.3 per 100,000 population could be a good benchmark for the incidence of esophageal cancer in the population of Tehran metropolis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.10
• /
• pp.6189-6193
• /
• 2013

In December 2011, the Cancer Research Centre of the Cancer Institute of Iran sponsored a 3-day workshop on "Cancer Registration Principle and Challenges in Iran", which convened cancer registry experts. The objectives of the workshop were: to introduce standard cancer registration, to review the policy and procedure of cancer registration in Iran, and to review the best practices in the cancer registries in Iran. Challenges to cancer registration were discussed and recommendations were developed. The workshop was evaluated by participants for better organization of subsequent workshops. The objective of publication of this report is that based on Cancer in 5 Continents, many low- or middle-income countries do not meet the criteria for a standard population-based cancer registry (PBCR); on the other hand cancer is the most important cause of mortality and the essential part of any cancer control program is the cancer registry. Therefore this report focuses on problems and challenges of PBCR and provides recommendations which might help other developing countries to decrease their PBCR defects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.4775-4782
• /
• 2016

Background: Cancer incidence data are vital for cancer control planning in any nation. This retrospective study was conducted to compare the cancer incidence of all sites between the first cancer registry report and the most recent example in Nepal. Material and Methods: The cases in the first (2003) and latest (2013) national cancer registry reports, accumulated by all the hospital based cancer registries in Nepal were taken for the research. The frequencies, crude incidences and age specific incidences (per 100,000) of the five major cancers were calculated for both males and females. Result: The most common cancer type for males in both years 2003 and 2013 was lung. Stomach was the third most common cancer in 2003 while it was the second in 2013. Similarly, the first four major cancers (cervix, breast, lung and ovary) did not change between 2003 and 2013 in females. The total cancer incidence rate increased from 12.8 in 2003 to 30.4 per 100,000 in 2013 for males and from 15.1 to 33.3 in females. Conclusion: The most common cancers in males in 2003 and 2013 were the bronchus and lung. Similarly, the most common cancer in females was cervix at both time points. The cancer incidence rate in females was higher than in males both in 2003 and 2013.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.257-264
• /
• 2010

Objectives: An accurate estimation of cancer patients is the basis of epidemiological studies and health services. However in Korea, cancer patients visiting out-patient clinics are usually ruled out of such studies and so these studies are suspected of underestimating the cancer patient population. The purpose of this study is to construct a more complete, hospital-based cancer patient registry using multiple sources of medical information. Methods: We constructed a cancer patient detection algorithm using records from various sources that were obtained from both the in-patients and out-patients seen at Asan Medical Center (AMC) for any reason. The medical data from the potentially incident cancer patients was reviewed four months after first being detected by the algorithm to determine whether these patients actually did or did not have cancer. Results: Besides the traditional practice of reviewing the charts of in-patients upon their discharge, five more sources of information were added for this algorithm, i.e., pathology reports, the national severe disease registry, the reason for treatment, prescriptions of chemotherapeutic agents and radiation therapy reports. The constructed algorithm was observed to have a PPV of 87.04%. Compared to the results of traditional practice, 36.8% of registry failures were avoided using the AMC algorithm. Conclusions: To minimize loss in the cancer registry, various data sources should be utilized, and the AMC algorithm can be a successful model for this. Further research will be required in order to apply novel and innovative technology to the electronic medical records system in order to generate new signals from data that has not been previously used.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.599-603
• /
• 2014

Background: Reproductive cancers are those that affect the human organs that are involved in producing offspring. An attempt is made in the present communication to assess the magnitude and pattern of reproductive cancers, including their treatment modalities, in India. The cancer incidence data related to reproductive cancers collected by five population-based urban registries, namely Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, for the years 2006-08 were utilized. The reproductive cancers among females constituted around 25% of the total and around 9% among males. Among females, the three major contributors were cervix (55.5%), ovary (26.1%) and corpus uteri (12.4%). Similarly among males, the three major contributors were prostate (77.6%), penis (11.6%) and testis (10.5%). For females, the AAR of reproductive cancers varied between 30.5 in the registry of Mumbai to 37.3 in the registry of Delhi. In males, it ranged between 6.5 in the registry of Bhopal to 14.7 in the registry of Delhi. For both males and females, the individual reproductive cancer sites showed increasing trends with age. The leading treatment provided was: radio-therapy in combination with chemo-therapy for cancers of cervix (48.3%) and vagina (43.9%); surgery in combination with chemo-therapy (54.9%) for ovarian cancer; and surgery in combination with radio-therapy for the cancers of the corpus uteri (39.8%). In males, the leading treatment provided was hormone-therapy for prostate cancer (39.6%), surgery for penile cancer (81.3%) and surgery in combination with chemo-therapy for cancer of the testis (57.6%).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.2107-2111
• /
• 2013

Objectives: To investigate data agreement of cancer registries and medical records as well as the quality of care and assess their relationship in a 5-year period from 2006 to 2011. Methods: The present cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 443 cases summarized through census and using a checklist. Data agreement of Nemazi hospital-based cancer registry and the breast cancer prevention center was analyzed according to their corresponding medical records through adjusted and unadjusted Kappa. The process of care quality was also computed and the relationship with data agreement was investigated through chi-square test. Results: Agreement of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy data between Nemazi hospital-based cancer registry and medical records was 62.9%, 78.5%, and 81%, respectively, while the figures were 93.2%, 87.9%, and 90.8%, respectively, between breast cancer prevention center and medical records. Moreover, quality of mastectomy, lumpectomy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy services assessed in Nemazi hospital-based cancer registry was 12.6%, 21.2%, 35.2%, and 15.1% different from the corresponding medical records. On the other hand, 7.4%, 1.4%, 22.5%, and 9.6% differences were observed between the quality of the above-mentioned services assessed in the breast cancer prevention center and the corresponding medical records. A significant relationship was found between data agreement and quality assessment. Conclusion: Although the results showed good data agreement, more agreement regarding the cancer stage data elements and the type of the received treatment is required to better assess cancer care quality. Therefore, more structured medical records and stronger cancer registry systems are recommended.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.sup3
• /
• pp.93-99
• /
• 2016

Completeness is an important indicator of data quality in cancer registry programs. This study aimed to estimate the completeness of registered cases in a population based cancer registry program implemented in five provinces of Iran. Capture-recapture methods were used to estimate the number of cases that may have been missed and to estimate rates of completeness for different categories of age, year, and sex. The data used for this study were obtained from three sources: 1) National Pathology Database; 2) National Hospital Discharge Database; and 3) National Death Registry Database. The three sources were linked and duplicates were identified based on first name, last name, father's names, and date of birth, ICD code, and case's residency address using Microsoft Excel. Removing duplicates, the three sources reported a total of 35,643 cases from March 2008 to March 2011. Running many different multivariate models of capture-recapture and controlling for source dependencies revealed an overall under-reporting of 49% in all five registries combined. The estimated completeness differed based on age, sex, and year. The overall completeness was higher for males than females (71.2% for males and 59.9% for females). Younger age had lower rates of completeness compared to older age (38.1% for <40 years, 55.4% for 40-60 years, and 76.7 for >60 years). The results of this study indicated a moderate to severe (depending on the age, sex and year) degree of completeness in the population based cancer registration of Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.693-698
• /
• 2012

Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer of women worldwide, with considerable geographic and racial/ethnic variation. Data are generally derived from population based cancer registries in the developed countries but hospital data are the most reliable source in the developing countries. Ten years data from 1st Jan 2000 to 31st Dec 2009 of a cancer hospital in Pakistan were here analyzed by descriptive statistics to evaluate the clinicopathologic profile of local breast cancer patients. Among 28,740 cancer patients, 6,718 were registered as breast cancer. The female to male ratio was 100:2. Breast cancer accounted for 23% of all and 41% of female cancers. Some 46% were residents of Lahore, with a mean age of $47{\pm}12$ years. Less than 1% were at Stage 0 and 10%, 32%, 35% and 23% were at Stage I, II, III and IV respectively. Histopathology was unknown in 4% while 91%, 2% and 1% had invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and mucinous carcinoma respectively. Rare carcinomas accounted for the rest. Tumor grade 1, 2 and 3 was 11%, 55% and 34% among the known. Profile of breast cancer patients in Pakistan follows a pattern similar to that of other developing countries with earlier peak age and advanced disease stage at presentation. The male breast cancer accounts for higher proportion in the local population. Local women have higher frequency of IDC and lower frequency of ILC and DCIS, owing probably to a different risk profile. Use of hospital information systems and establishment of population based cancer registry is required to have accurate and detailed local data. Promotion of breast health awareness and better health care system is required to decrease the burden of advanced disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.5853-5858
• /
• 2015

Background: The survival rate reflecting prognosis of breast cancer patients is usually estimated based on crude survival methods such as observed and cause-specific. In situations where data are based on population-cancer registries, this method may produce biased estimations. This study therefore aimed to estimate the net survival of breast cancer based on relative survival. Materials and Methods: Data for 622 breast cancer patients diagnosed at the Iran Cancer Institute during 1990-95 and tracked till the end of 2000 were analyzed. For estimation of relative survival, Ederer's second method and SAS (9.1) and STATA (11) software were used. Results: Threeyear relative survivals of 85%, 90%, 80% and 67% were observed for age groups 15-44, 55-59, 60-74, and 75+years-old, respectively. A relative survival of approximately one was observed for two subsequent years for age-group 45-59 years-old. A value greater than one for two subsequent years of follow-up was observed in the age-group 60-74 years-old. Conclusions: Tracking the diagnosis of breast cancer, the relative survival decreases as we go to higher age-groups. It is also perceived that through follow-up, relative survival first decreased and then increased a little. The statistical cure point is acceptable for age group 45-59 years-old while for age-groups 15-44 and 60-74 years old is a sign of low quality data for some follow-up intervals.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.2595-2598
• /
• 2013

Background: Prostate cancer is common in elderly men, especially in western countries, and incidences are rising in low-risk populations as well. In India, the age-standardized rates vary between registries. Under these circumstances we have estimated the survival of prostate cancer patients based on age, family history, diabetes, hypertension, tobacco habit, clinical extent of disease (risk group) and treatment received. Materials and Methods: The present retrospective study was carried out at the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Mumbai, India. During years 1999-2002, some 850 prostate cancer cases, including 371 new cases, treated in TMH were considered as eligible entrants for the study. Five-year survival rates using actuarial and loss-adjusted (LAR) method were estimated. Results: The patient population was distributed uniformly over the three age groups. A larger proportion of the patients were diagnosed at 'metastatic stage' and hormone treatment was most common. 20% patients had history of diabetes and 40% with hypertension. The 5-year overall survival rate was 64%. Survival was 55%, 74% and 52% for '<59 years','60-69 years' and '>70 years' respectively. Non-diabetic (70%), hypertensive (74%), with family history (80%) of cancer, with localized-disease (91%) and treated with surgery, either alone or in combination, (91%) had better survival. Conclusions: The present study showed that prostate cancer patients with localized disease at diagnosis experience a better outcome. Local treatment with either surgery or radiation achieves a reasonable outcome in prostate cancer patients. A detailed study will help in understanding the prognostic indicators for survival especially with the newer treatment technologies available now.