The Department of Registration

One of the main tasks of the department is to monitor and interpret cancer trends and report annual cancer statistics. The department produces the Cancer Registry's annual report on Cancer in Norway. The Cancer registry of Norway operates 12 clinical registries, of which 9 have national status. The purpose of the annual reports from the clinical registries is to identify undesirable differences in cancer care.

Cancer statistics have a broad target group, and encompass epidemiological and oncological communities, research groups, the media and patient organizations, in addition to being of general interest. The department cooperates closely with the clinical community in Norway, the Nordic cancer registries, and the international cancer research community. The department has strong statistical expertise, and works to improve and develop methods, including survival analyses. The work of the registry department contributes significantly to a better understanding of cancer incidence, cancer care and the research results can help prepare cancer care. 

The department is divided into three sections as well as a Medical advisory group.

Section of registration

The Section of registration is responsible for coding and registration all cancers cases in Norway, as well as quality assurance of this work. The Section of registration consists of four groups with special responsibility for certain types of cancer and clinical registries (medical quality registries). The section leads projects related to structured and automated data collection from the patient records from Hospital trusts. The section is also responsible for harmonizing data in the registers using coding systems and terminology (SNOMED CT).

The Section of registration operates the national clinical registries for cancer:

• Norwegian Childhood Cancer Registry
• Norwegian Breast Cancer Registry
• Norwegian Gynecological Cancer Registry
• Norwegian Lung Cance Registry
• Norwegian Registry of Lymphoid Malignancies
• Norwegian Melanoma Registry
• Norwegian Prostate Cancer Registry
• Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Registry

In addition, the section is responsible for three clinical registries without national approval:

• Norwegian Sarcoma Cancer Registry
• Norwegian Pancreatic Cancer Registry
• Norwegian registry of brain and spinal cord tumours

Section of dataflow

The section is responsible for data processing, extraction and analysis for 7 clinical registries. The section is involved in several development projects to simplify data collection from the specialist health service, harmonize data using international standards, and in projects to simplify and improve access to cancer data (e.g. via the micro-data project). In addition, the section is responsible for answering requests for access to the Cancer Registry.

Section of analysis and research

The Section of analysis and research is responsible for statistical method development and production of statistics and conducts research.  "Cancer care epidemiology" is one of the department's research areas. One of the objectives of these research projects is to identify undesirable differences in cancer care. Research is also being conducted on trends in cancer incidence and survival, the section also has research collaboration with the clinical community in Norway. In recent years, the Cancer Registry of Norway has started population surveys as part of its clinical registry assignment. Cancer patients and cancer-free people are invited to answer questions about self-perceived health and quality of life. The section is responsible for data processing, extraction, and analysis of 6 clinical registries. 

Medical advisory group

The Medical advisory group is responsible for the medical content of the Cancer Registry of Norway and the clinical registries for cancer.