Identifying prognostic indicators in staging metastatic sarcomas using hospital episode statistics

Detailed staging data are currently not available for sarcoma patients. This paper uses Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data to identify patients with Stage IV disease at diagnosis. Cancer patients with a record of metastasis at diagnosis were identified by combining HES data with National Cancer Data Repository data. The presence of metastases at diagnosis varied with age, sarcoma morphological sub-type, and anatomical location. Survival rates for patients with metastases were significantly lower than for those without metastases. Although not a perfect substitute for detailed staging information, the method described provides a good proxy to identify patients with Stage IV disease.