St. Peter’s Cancer Registry was established in January 1991 and is one of the main components of an approved Cancer Program. The registry is a data–collecting system that is used to maintain and analyze clinical cancer information on all inpatients and outpatients diagnosed and/or treated for cancer at St. Peter’s.
The data is used for education, research, and outcome measurement. The registry is responsible, by law, for identifying and reporting all malignant, and certain benign, tumors to the Montana Central Tumor Registry. Data collected is also submitted to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) allowing comparative analysis with other hospitals of similar size.
Lifetime follow–up is essential for all living cancer patients. This process provides reminders to the physicians and the patient to schedule regular examinations for continued medical supervision to ensurie early detection and treatment of a recurrence or early diagnosis of a subsequent cancer. Annual follow–up also provides data for clinical outcomes and survival rates.