If someone is a researcher in a cancer related field, s/he may need accurate and up-to-date cancer data to study possible causes of cancer. If someone is a medical administrator, s/he may need cancer data to make decisions regarding equipment purchase and programs for the prevention and control of cancer. If someone from the Department of Health were contacted because of a potential cancer cluster, s/he may need some cancer data to investigate the claim. If someone is a medical student, s/he may need some

cancer statistics for supporting evidence in his/her term paper. Generally, s/he can find some cancer data on the Internet without much effort; at other times s/he may have to go through certain procedures to get permission in order to obtain some cancer data. But, one may wonder, “Where do these valuable cancer data and statistics come from?”

In fact, all these valuable cancer statistics are collected and provided by the cancer registry.

By definition, a cancer registry is an information system designed for the collection, storage, management, and analysis of data on persons with cancer, usually covering a hospital or group of hospitals.

A cancer registry is a particular type of disease registry and its major purposes are: 1) to establish and maintain a cancer incidence reporting system; 2) to be an informational resource for the investigation of cancer and its causes; and 3) to provide information to assist public health officials and agencies in the planning and evaluation of cancer prevention and cancer control programs.

Cancer registries are a primary source for unbiased population-based case control studies, the end points for cohort studies and clinical trials -- and perhaps most importantly, the beginning point for survival analysis.

Cancer registration refers to the process of continual, systematic collection of data on the occurrence and characteristics of reportable malignancies with the purpose of helping to assess and control the impact of cancer on the community. Behind this system is a group of hardworking people called cancer registrars who are trained to collect accurate, complete, and timely data on cancer patients. More about cancer registrars will be discussed in Section Three.