[Primary ovarian cancer. A comparison of registrations in the Danish Cancer Registry and the Pathology Data Bank].

Introduction: Ovarian cancer (OC) registrations in the Danish Cancer Registry (CR) and the Danish Pathology Data Bank (PDB) 1978-99 were compared in order to assess the possibility of identifying OC cases from another data source than the CR.

Material And Methods: A total of 13,320 OC were identified in the CR/PDB and comparisons of the registrations were performed.

Results: The frequency of cases registered in both registries increased during 1978-99. Agreement in registration of histological subtypes in the two registries was found in 82% of the cases. Diagnosis among the rest was most often consistent; however, a more specific diagnosis was often found in one or the other registry. The frequency of women only registered with OC in the CR decreased from 81% to 35%, as the number of women with no diagnoses at all in the PDB declined from 1978 to 1997, whereafter it stabilised, primarily because all pathology departments now reported data to the PDB. In 1997-99, 29% of OC registered in the CR with a histologically verified OC diagnosis was still not registered with cancer in the ovaries in the PDB. Most of these, however, could be identified in the PDB with diagnoses consistent with metastases from OC. In total, 749 OC were not registered in the CR, though explanations for their missing registrations could be found in most cases.

Conclusion: Data from the PDB may not be useful in complete identification of ovarian cancer cases for research purposes. However, it is a good supplement to data from the CR.