Tumor registry at LSU Health New Orleans earns top NCI honors

The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute awarded First Place to the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health's Louisiana Tumor Registry for its 2014 and 2015 data submissions. Only five SEER registries received 2014 First Place Awards and only three SEER registries earned 2015 First Place Awards. Only two SEER registries earned both 2014 and 2015 First Place Awards. This is the sixth time LSU Health New Orleans' Louisiana Tumor Registry has earned this award and the fifth consecutive year. The SEER Program is the most authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States.

The SEER Program evaluates a number of measures of data quality annually, including the completeness and timeliness of cancer cases, the percentage of unknown for key demographic and tumor variables, and patient follow-up rates. LSU Health New Orleans' Louisiana Tumor Registry data exceeded the goals in all of the measures.

"This honor recognizes not only the commitment to high quality of the staff here at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, but also the dedicated efforts of the staffs of the regional registries and hospital registries throughout the state, along with support from host institutions of regional registries, reporting health care facilities and providers," notes Dr. Xiao-Cheng Wu, Professor and Director of the Louisiana Tumor Registry at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health.

The primary function of a cancer registry is to record the occurrence of cancer in a population. Information collected includes demographics, tumor characteristics, stage of disease at diagnosis, treatment, and survival. Information on risk factors is usually not available from the reporting sources. However, data from the registry often provide clues to be pursued in special research studies conducted by qualified scientists.

The SEER Program collects cancer incidence and survival data from18 population-based cancer registries in the United States. It is considered to be the standard for quality among cancer registries around the world. Quality control has been an integral part of SEER since its inception.

Provided by Louisiana State University