Chapter 27 Cancer survival in Lampang, Thailand, 1990−2000 Martin N, Pongnikorn S, Patel N and Daoprasert K Chiang Mai tumour registry The Lampang cancer registry was established in 1995 in the Lampang Cancer Centre, Lampang, under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute for cancer prevention and control in the northern part of Thailand. The population-based cancer registration started with retrospective data collection on cancer incidence and mortality from 1988. The registry contributed data to the quinquennial IARC publication Cancer Incidence in Five Continents for the first time in volume VIII [1]. Data collection for the years 1988− 1993 was done by active methods. Cancer registration is currently done by the passive method of notification from 21 sources comprising cancer centres, hospitals in the government and private sectors, provincial public health services and pathological laboratories [2]. The registry covers an area of 12 534 km 2 and caters to a mixed urban and rural population of about 0.8 million with a sex ratio of 1004 females to 1000 males in 2000. The average annual age-standardized incidence rate is 180 per 100 000 among males and 155 per 100 000 among females, with a lifetime cumulative risk of one in 6 of developing cancer for both sexes in the period 1993− 1997. The top-ranking cancers among males are lung, liver and colon, and among females, the order is lung, cervix and breast. The registry is contributing data on survival from 40 cancer sites or types for the first time in this volume of the IARC publication on Cancer Survival in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America. Data quality indices (Table 1) The proportion of cases with histologically verified cancer diagnosis in our series is 71%, varying from 30% in liver cancer to 100% in skin melanoma, lymphomas and leukaemias. The proportion of cases registered as death certificates only (DCOs) was 6%, ranging between nil for many cancers and 33%, for bone cancer. Cases excluded without any follow-up are negligible. The exclusion of cases from the survival analysis is the greatest among bone cancer (33%) while none were excluded from many cancers. Thus, 67−100% of the total cases registered are included in the estimation of the survival probability. Outcome of follow-up (Table 2) Follow-up has been carried out by passive and active methods. These included notification of cancer mortality information from the Lampang provincial public health service records. The mortality data are matched with the incident cancer database. Unmatched incident cases are then subjected to one or more of the following to obtain vital status information: repeated scrutiny of records in the respective sources of registration, postal enquiry and house visits. 217 Abstract The Lampang cancer registry was established in 1995, with retrospective data collection since 1988. Cancer registration is currently done by passive methods. The registry is contributing data on survival for 40 cancer sites or types registered during 1990−2000. Follow-up has been carried out by passive and active methods with median follow-up ranging from 1−74 months for different cancers. The proportion having a histologically verified diagnosis for various cancers ranged between 30−100%; death certificate only (DCO) cases comprised 0−33%; 67−100% of total registered cases were included for survival analysis. Complete follow-up at five years ranged from 96−100% for different cancers. The 5-year age-standardized relative survival rate was the highest for skin non-melanoma (85%) followed by lip (81%), thyroid (74%), corpus uteri (71%) and penis (71%). The 5- year relative survival by age group showed a fluctuating trend. An overwhelmingly high proportion of cases were diagnosed with a regional spread of disease, ranging from 35−68% for different cancers, and survival was decreasing with increasing extent of disease for most cancers studied. http://survcan.iarc.fr