The Saudi Cancer Registry (SCR) is considered one of the first national registries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was established in 1992 under the supervision of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSHRC) in Riyadh, with the participation of many organization in health sector; Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, King Saud University Hospital, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, King Faisal University Hospital and Security Forces Hospital. SCR began registering cancer cases in the Kingdom since January 1994. In 2014, it was moved under the authority of the Saudi Health Council (SHC). The SCR offices located in the various provinces within the Kingdom, trained registrars are dispatched to every hospital, clinic or laboratory and register every newly diagnosed cancer patient. Cancer centers with hospital-based registries transfer data electronically to the main office of the SCR at the SHC. The SCR collects demographic data including full name, date of birth, region where diagnosis was made and topography of the cancer. Cancer incidence data are reported annually, and reports are published by the National Cancer Center of SHC. The statistical information provided by the SCR was significant for the development of cancer prevention and care in the KSA during the past thirty years.

CHRS0782022

https://doi.org/10.60840/nhrsp-cs75

Cancer data are abstracted from patients' medical records based on clinical and/or histopathological diagnosis by SCR-trained cancer registrars. Abstracted data includes personal identifications (name, ID number, gender, age), demographic information (address, telephone number, nationality), and tumor details (diagnosis date, primary site, histology, behavior, grade, stage, basis of diagnosis). The primary site (topography) and histology (morphology) of the malignancies are identified and coded according to the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology 3rd Edition (ICD-O-3), published by the World Health Organization (WHO), 2000. Starting from year 2001, changes were made in coding of cancer types and behaviors as well as staging according to SEER Summary Stage 2000 to increase accuracy and consistency in stage coding SEER Summary Stage Manual 2000 is available on the web. The cases diagnosed on or after 01 January 2008 were classified according to the updated ICD-O-3. While there have not been any changes in the primary site codes, there are significant changes regarding histology (cell types). Leukaemia and lymphoma are particularly affected. Some cases that were previously considered benign are now counted as malignant and a small number of cancers that were previously coded as borderline tumors are now considered benign.Also, small number of cancers that were previously coded as borderline tumors are now considered benign. Counts of ovarian cancers, lymphoma and leukemia as well as some hematopoietic diseases will change due to changes in either the report›s ability or definition. However, as with the SEER staging guidelines, the ICD-O changes reflect advances in the understanding of the pathology and behavior of cancers. It should be noted that ICD-O-3 codes are converted to ICD-10 for analysis purposes. Since the WHO has not yet converted ICD-10 hematopoietic disease behavior changes, our software, CanReg 4.33 (developed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France) cannot include these cases for analysis and they have been excluded. Every effort is made to accurately code patient and tumor information, to ensure that all data reviewed, linked, and consolidated, as appropriate, so that each malignancy is counted only once for statistical analysis. Data entry and incidence tables output were generated by CanReg software.