Multi-institutional cooperative study on malignant tumors of oral cavity and its adjacent regions

—1. documentation sheets for patients data—

Abstract

The Kyushu Working Group on Oral Cancer was founded in April 1994 to raise the level of clinical studies on malignsnt tumors of the oral cavity and its adjacent regions, and improve the treatment results through a multi-institutional cooperative study. The documentation sheets, which are used in all participating institutions and record data for patients with carcinoma of the lip, oral cavity, oropharynx (UICC classification), and intraosseous carcinoma of the jaw, were prepared.
The documentation sheets were composed of the following items: 1) general information about a patient, for example, age, sex, and untreated or treated condition; 2) date of diagnosis, TNM classification including pTNM and matters relation to diagnosis; 3) date of initial treatment, treatment method, and course after treatment (i.e., tumor control or recurrence) ; 4) details of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other treatment methods for primary tumors and metastatic lesions; 5) multiple primary cancers within the same site (organ) or at a dif f f erent site (organ), and synchronous or metachronous cancers; and 6) summary of treatment methods, the observation period and the outcome of patients such as survival status or cause of death.
Our agreement on several controversial terms used in these sheets, experiences while using these sheets and additional contents, which we think should be included in future documentation sheets, were described. The obtained data can be easily put into a computer using the software corresponding to documentation sheets and they are simultaneously stored in the data base software (File Maker Pro. Ver. 3.0) .