Cancer FAQs

Contents

• What is cancer?
• What is the difference between a malignant and a benign tumour?
• What legislation deals with cancer data?
• What is the NCSCH?
• Which cancers are the most common in Australia?
• What are the major types of cancer?
• What is a cancer registry?

What is cancer?

Cancer describes a range of diseases in which abnormal cells proliferate and spread (metastasise) to other parts of the body. If the spread is not controlled, it can result in death. Other terms for cancer are tumours and neoplasms, although these terms can also be used for non-cancerous growths.

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What is the difference between a malignant and a benign tumour?

Tumours can be benign (not a cancer) or malignant (a cancer). Benign tumours do not invade other tissues or spread to other parts of the body, although they can expand to interfere with health structures. The main features of a malignant tumour (cancer) are its ability to grow in an uncontrolled way and to invade and spread to other parts of the body (metastasise).

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What legislation deals with cancer data?

The registration of cancer is required by law, usually under the Public Health Acts, in each State and Territory. These registries report in various formats on cancers in their respective jurisdictions and supply information for national collation through the National Cancer Statistics Clearing House (NCSCH).

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What is the NCSCH?

The National Cancer Statistics Clearing House (NCSCH) is a database maintained by the Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (AACR) and the AIHW. It is a national collection of cancer data. Data for incidence are currently available to 2004 and for mortality to 2005.

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Which cancers are the most common in Australia?

The following information applies to the year 2004.

In males, the most common registrable cancers are prostate cancer (15,759 new cases diagnosed in 2004), colorectal cancer (7,160), lung cancer (5,826) and melanoma (5,503). These four cancers account for 62% of all registrable cancers in males.

In females, breast cancer (12,126) is the most common registrable cancer, followed by colorectal cancer (5,817), melanoma (4,219) and lung cancer (3,270), which in total account for 59% of all registrable cancers in females.

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What are the major types of cancer?

Although there are hundreds of different cancers, there are five major categories: carcinoma, sarcoma, myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma. There are also some cancers of mixed types.

Carcinoma: Malignancy (ie cancer) of the internal or external lining of the body. For example, squamous or epidermoid carcinoma of skin, lip, tongue, cervix.

Sarcoma: Malignancy of connective tissue origin. For example, bone, cartilage, skeletal muscle, fibrous tissue, neurongenic connective tissue.

Myeloma: Malignancy of plasma cell series (cells which produce some of the proteins found in the blood). These cells are generally found in the bone marrow.

Lymphoma: Cancer of cells of the lymph nodes or of similar cells which may occur elsewhere.

Leukemia: Malignancy of the blood-forming elements of the bone marrow.

Mixed types: Cancer composed of different tissue types. The type components may be within one category or from different categories.

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What is a cancer registry?

A cancer registry can be defined as an organised system for the collection, storage, analysis and interpretation of data on persons with cancer. Each state and territory in Australia maintains a cancer registry. A national minimum data set from the state and territory registries is provided to the National Cancer Statistics Clearing House to enable national trends in cancer to be monitored. Information on the data items can be found at http://www.aihw.gov.au/datacat/index.cfm.

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