[Rapid tracing of new patients with cancer through the nationwide network and registry of histo- and cytopathology in the Netherlands (PALGA) in order to freeze tumour material for molecular-epidemiological research]

Abstract

Objective: To examine the viability of tracing new patients with a malignancy preoperatively through the Nationwide Network And Registry Of Histo- and Cytopathology in the Netherlands (PALGA) in order to obtain fresh-frozen tumour tissue for molecular-epidemiological research.

Design: Prospective.

Method: Gene expression analysis using the microarray technique has become an important tool in cancer research. To use this technique, however, it is necessary to have fresh-frozen tumour tissue. This study examines if a weekly search in the PALGA registration makes it possible to trace patients before they undergo tumour surgery and to ask the treating physician to reserve some tumour material to be frozen. In this case it was for the benefit of the 'tamoxifen-associated malignancies: aspects of risk' (TAMARISK)-study in which the clinical-pathological and molecular characteristics of malignancies of the uterine corpus following the use of tamoxifen were examined. Results. From July 2003 to October 2004 133 patients eligible for inclusion in the TAMARISK study were indicated by PALGA. Ultimately freshfrozen tissue from a uterine tumour was obtained for 83 of the 133 patients. For the majority of the patients that could not be included the information came too late or there was no certain histopathological diagnosis prior to the hysterectomy.

Conclusion: The system developed through PALGA turned out to be very effective in practice and can also be of great value to other clinical epidemiological studies that involve molecular analyses of patients with relatively rare diseases.