Methodology for long term follow-up of cancer cases in a developing environment

The utility of data collected on patients will be rendered insignificant without adequate follow-up information. Efficient methods should be used to follow cases in order to get vital status information in Hospital(HBCR) and Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR). Based on our experience we have evolved methods to follow cancer cases and this has been discussed in this paper. Active follow up of cases has enhanced follow-up rate from 50% to more than 85% at HBCR and "death in period" from 19% to 41% during the period 1982 to 1991 in PBCR. Active follow-up is mandatory for the cases registered at HBCR. In addition to collecting data from VSD on cancer deaths, active follow-up is desirable to get maximum death information on cases registered at PBCR in a developing environment. Computerization of follow-up data is necessary in order to further improve the efficiency of the follow-up system.