Colorectal cancer surgery 2000-2008: evaluation of a prospective database.

Background:   Colorectal cancer is a common cause of cancer death in Australia and is primarily managed operatively. Surgical databases are valuable in monitoring performance in cancer treatment and detecting problems and trends.

Methods:   Diagnostic and treatment variables and short-term outcomes were gathered prospectively for patients undergoing resection for colorectal cancer over a 9-year period.

Outcomes of lymphoma in South Australia, 1977-2007.

Objective: To determine survival rates of patients with lymphoma in South Australia.

Design And Setting: De-identified data from the SA Cancer Registry on all patients with lymphoma were analysed, as well as the subgroup treated at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). For non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), we used the International Working Formulation (IWF) grading.

Exploring trends in laryngeal cancer incidence, mortality and survival: implications for research and cancer control.

South Australian registry data were used to investigate trends in laryngeal cancer age-standardised incidence, mortality and disease-specific survival from 1977 to 2005. Incidence rates decreased by 32% from 1980-84 to 2000-05, affecting both sexes and ages under 70 years. There were concurrent reductions in mortality, although statistical significance was not achieved with the numbers of deaths examined (p>0.

Factors predictive of preferred place of death in the general population of South Australia.

In a population survey, 2652 respondents aged 15+ years reported their preferred place of death, if dying of 'a terminal illness such as cancer or emphysema', to be home (70%), a hospital (19%), hospice (10%), or nursing home (<1%). The majority of respondents in all socio-demographic categories reported a preference for dying at home, with the greatest majorities occurring in younger age groups. After weighting to the age-sex distribution of all South Australian cancer deaths, 58% in our survey declared a preference to die at home, which is much higher than the 14% of cancer deaths that actually occurred at home in South Australia in 2000-2002.

Are cutaneous melanomas of specified thickness showing deeper levels of invasion at diagnosis?

Secular trends in Clark level were investigated by Breslow category for 8,432 invasive cutaneous melanomas diagnosed in South Australia in 1980-2000. More recently diagnosed lesions were found to have deeper levels. After adjusting for age at diagnosis, tumour site, histology, and thickness measured in half millimetres, the relative odds (95% confidence limits) of penetration to the reticular dermis or subcutaneous fat were 1.

Time trends in lung cancer incidence by histology in South Australia: likely causes and public health implications.

Objectives: In response to reported increases in ratios of adenocarcinomas to squamous cell carcinomas of the lung in other populations, to investigate and consider public health and clinical implications of time trends in lung cancer incidence by histological type in South Australia.

Methods: 11,898 lung cancers, diagnosed during 1982-2000, were analysed to determine age-adjusted incidence rates by sex, diagnostic epoch, and histological type, and changes in histological distribution at diagnosis.

Results: The age-adjusted incidence of squamous cell carcinoma reduced by 47.

A critical analysis of reasons for improved survival from invasive cutaneous melanoma.

Objective: To determine the extent to which increases in survival from melanoma are explained by changes in thickness, level, histological type, site of lesion, and sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: Analyses of changes in survival among 9519 South Australians with melanoma reported to the State's population-based cancer registry during the 1980-2000 diagnostic period, using proportional hazards regression to adjust for thickness, level and other characteristics.

Results: Lower survivals applied for thicker lesions, deeper Clark levels, lesions on the trunk and scalp/neck, and for older cases and males.

Newborn screening in South Australia: is it universal?

Objective: To determine the biochemical screening rate of newborns in South Australia and the factors associated with babies not being screened.

Design: Matching of data in the SA Newborn Screening Centre database (acquired from Guthrie cards) with the SA perinatal data collection (compiled from supplementary birth records) to determine how many newborns missed screening. Risk factors for missed screening were identified from sociodemographic and clinical variables recorded in the perinatal data collection and analysed by multivariable unconditional logistic regression analysis.

Comparative epidemiological characteristics of oesophageal adenocarcinoma and other cancers of the oesophagus and gastric cardia.

Secular trends and epidemiological characteristics of 1,581 oesophageal cancers, diagnosed in South Australian residents in 1977-2000, were analysed by histological type and diagnostic period, using multivariable Poisson regression and logistic regression. The age-adjusted incidence of squamous cell carcinoma did not vary significantly by diagnostic period, either in males (p = 0.195) or females (p = 0.

Cervical cancer: effect of glandular cell type on prognosis, treatment, and survival.

Objective: To investigate survivals from cervical cancer, with special reference to effects of glandular histology and its influence on prognostic characteristics and management decisions.

Methods: Data on cervical cancers, diagnosed in 1984-2000, were obtained from the gynecologic oncology registry of hospitals of the University of Adelaide. Comparisons were made of disease-specific survival, age at diagnosis, diagnostic period, stage, grade, and primary course of treatment.