The National Cancer Data Base report on recent hospital cancer program progress toward complete American Joint Committee on Cancer/TNM staging.

Background: American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging procedures were first published in 1977. Since 1991 the Commission on Cancer (COC) has required AJCC staging of all nonpediatric cancers. The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) encouraged recording of AJCC staging through analyses of selected aspects of staging completeness. We reviewed the trend toward the adoption of routine AJCC staging by hospitals for the 5-year period 1990-1994.

Methods: NCDB reports for nearly 2 million stageable cancers diagnosed from 1990 through 1994 were examined with emphasis on the hospital cancer program environment. Staging was complete if the hospital submitted stage codes for > or =90% of stageable cases or absent if stage codes were submitted for <5%. Hospitals were classified by ownership and type of cancer program. Regional staging practices also were reviewed.

Results: Overall staging increased from 78% to 88%, with increases for every site except carcinomas of the skin, cancers of the extrahepatic bile ducts and urethra, melanoma of the eyelid, and retinoblastoma The percent of hospitals staging completely increased from 49% to 61%, and the percent not routinely staging decreased from 6% to 3%. Complete staging increased in all hospital categories except For-Profit. The trend toward complete staging was uneven among states and regions.

Conclusions: Hospital staging policies were affected by activities of the AJCC, COC, NCDB, clinical protocol procedures, and state policies. The varied completeness of staging at the hospital level by state, region, and type of hospital indicates that the adoption of routine staging is ongoing.