Cancer registry in the fight against cancer

Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe plans nationwide cancer registry

07/02/2014

The Federal Ministry of Health plans to introduce a national cancer registry. Background is the steady increase in cancer. In Germany meanwhile about one in four dies of cancer. In order to collect and evaluate detailed data on, inter alia, the type of cancer, the course of the disease and the therapy, this information should be recorded in the future for each malignant tumor. By mid-2015, all federal states had the necessary legal requirements for the clinical cancer registry, said Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe to the „image“. Further measures in the fight against cancer should follow.

Cancer Registry should provide insights for the improvement of cancer therapies
The purpose of the cancer registry is to create a nationwide standardized data base that makes it possible to evaluate the therapies. From this information can be derived, which contribute to the improvement of treatment options. Although there are already registers in some federal states, these are very different, so that a uniform data collection is not yet guaranteed. With uniform guidelines for all federal states this problem will be solved in the future. In this way, for example, evaluations of the quality of the individual treatment centers can be carried out and the most successful therapies can be identified.

The so-called Cancer Screening and Registration Act (KFRG) governs the structure of the National Cancer Registry, which is part of the 2008 National Cancer Plan. At that time, the Federal Government, the German Cancer Aid and professional associations had joined together to develop a plan of action in the fight against cancer.

In addition to the cancer registry, the Federal Government plans to expand cancer screening. Similar to breast cancer screening for women, improved care systems for colon and cervical cancer will also be introduced in the future. Gröhe mentions in this context a method of inviting people to the examinations that would have proved useful in breast cancer screening. „The earlier cancer is discovered, the higher the chances of recovery, "emphasizes the Federal Minister of Health to the news agency „AFP“.

Number of cancers continues to rise
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a dramatic increase in cancer. By 2025, 20 million new cases could occur every year, according to a WHO report. That corresponds to an increase of about 40 percent. In the next two decades, according to the WHO, even an increase of up to 70 percent is realistic. According to the Cancer Report 2014 published on Monday, there were about 14 million new cases worldwide in 2012. 8.2 million people did not survive the cancer.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in cardiovascular disease in Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, more than 477,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2010. More than 218,000 patients died of cancer during the same period. (Ag)

Picture: Rainer Sturm