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Data Collection Needed for Less Common Cancers
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Posted on: 06/21/2007
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The National Cancer Data Base keeps records from over 1,400 cancer program registries in the United States. The data base sends out regular reports on the most common cancers, but not so often on the less frequently occurring cancers. Because the care of patients with these cancers such as osteosarcoma (cancer of the bone), chondrosarcoma (cancer of the cartilage), and Ewing's sarcoma (bone cancer usually found in the long bones) is changing, it is important to have reports of these types of tumors as well.
In this report, the authors identified the epidemiology (patterns and causes) and survival data of the three cancers. They searched the database and found that 35,265 bone or joint cancers were reported from 1,656 hospitals over a 19-year period. Of these, the researchers found that 26,437 cases fit into one of the three cancers: osteosarcoma (11,9961), chondrosarcoma (9,606), and Ewing's sarcoma (4,870). They noted that the cancers increased in incidence over the 19 years. There were 697 cases of sarcoma reported in 1985 and 1,796 in 1997.
When looking at the epidemiology, more males than females were diagnosed with any of the three sarcomas, with Ewing's sarcoma being the one with the highest difference: six males to every four females. Half of all patients with Ewing's sarcoma (50 percent) and almost as many with osteosarcoma (40 percent) were children between 10 and 19 years old. Chondrosarcoma was most common among patients over 40 years old.
Most tumor sites were in the long bones in the leg, particularly for osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma. Staging information was recorded for some patients; the most common was stage I for chondrosarcoma, stage II for osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma.
The researchers looked at the treatments given to the patients, which varied considerably even within the same type of cancer. For chondrosarcoma, 69 percent of patients underwent surgery only, while for Ewing's sarcoma, 24 percent received surgery and chemotherapy, and 23 percent received chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Eighteen percent had chemotherapy alone and 15 percent had a combination of all three. Only 46 percent of patients with osteosarcoma underwent surgery and chemotherapy combined.
Finally, when looking at the survival data, the researchers found that survival data were only available for a five-year period, between 1985 and 1998. The relative survival rate for osteosarcoma was 53.9 percent, for chondrosarcoma 75.2 percent, and for Ewing's sarcoma 50.6 percent.
The authors hope this study will encourage continuation of this data collection.
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References:
Timothy A. Damron, MD, et al. Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, and Ewing's Sarcoma. National Cancer Data Base Report. In Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. June 2007. Vol. 459. Pp. 40-47.
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