[Creation of an intercantonal tumor register]

A population-based Cancer Registry is a permanent system which records all the malignant tumors occurring in a particular geographical area. Its main objective is to set up the basis for the establishment of statistics, either for practical use (cancer control) or for research. More than a hundred such registries exist nowadays throughout the world, and in Switzerland a number have been recently created or are in process of organization (cantons of Geneva, Neuchâtel, Vaud, Zurich, Basel). A coordination group has accordingly been created to harmonize the data and the coding system, in order to allow the organization of an Intercantonal Registry.