The bone tumour registry of Western Australia. A review of the first 8 years

Abstract

The Bone Tumour Registry of Western Australia established in 1971 as a Committee of the Cancer Council of W.A. and located at the St John of God Hospital is managed by a panel of 12 specialists with part-time secretarial assistance. Its aim is to accession all primary bone tumours and tumour-like lesions occurring in W.A. with the exception of myelomas which are documented in a separate registry. The criterion for acceptance is suspicion on clinical, radiological or histopathological evidence that a bone neoplasm is present. Review and classification are conducted by the complete panel and follow-up is attempted for all cases. During the first 8 yr a total of 343 cases was notified to the registry and 42 were subsequently deleted. Of the 301 cases retained there are 70 primary malignant bone tumours, 5 metastatic and 7 primary soft tissue malignancies as well as 116 benign tumours, 53 tumour-like lesions, 14 non neoplastic conditions, 15 benign soft tissue tumours and 21 odontogenic cases. The panel has reviewed 212 patients. Significant alteration to the original histological diagnosis has been made in 7 of these. Follow-up information is available for only 119 due to problems in the follow-up of benign lesions. The 7 yr period 1972 8 has been used to compare incidence figures with other series. For this 230 myelomas notified during these years have been added to 51 other primary bone malignancies in the registry. The annual incidence rate for all primary bone malignancies in W.A., 3.55 per 100,000 persons, closely parallels the rate of 3.32 for the Bristol (U.K.) region. The myeloma rate of 2.90 in W.A. is higher than the Bristol rate of 2.36 but if myelomas are excluded then the W.A. rate of 0.64 primary bone malignancies is lower than the U.K. at 0.96. Despite the smallness of the series, the registry already has an interesting collection of well-documented material, some of which is to be briefly aired. The benefits are already evident and it is hoped that this experience will be a basis and stimulus for similar registries to be established in all Australian states.