Rare thyroid malignancies in Europe: Data from the information network on rare cancers in Europe (RARECAREnet).

OBJECTIVE: Limited information is available on the incidence of rare thyroid cancer (TC) subtypes: anaplastic (ATC) and medullary (MTC). The aim of this study was to describe incidence variations and trends across European countries of all TC subtypes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used the RARECAREnet database including 80721 TC incident cases in the period 2000-2007 from 77 population-based cancer registries (CRs) in Europe. In the trend analyses, we included 68890 TC cases from 53 CRs with at least 6 years of incidence data in the years 2000-2007. RESULTS: In Europe age-standardised incidence rates (ASR) in women were <0.3/100,000 for MTC and ATC whereas ASR were 5.3/100,000 for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and 1.1/100,000 for follicular TC (FTC). Corresponding ASRs in men were <0.2/100,000 for MTC and ATC, 1.5 for PTC and 0.4 for FTC. Across countries and in both sexes the incidence of FTC and MTC was moderately correlated (r ~ 0.5) with that of PTC, while a less marked correlation (r < 0.4) emerged for ATC ASRs. The changes of the PTC ASRs across countries and time were weakly (r < 0.3) or moderately (r ~ 0.5) correlated to the changes of the other subtypes for both sexes. CONCLUSION: The huge increase and heterogeneity between countries of PTC incidence has a small influence on the trends and variations of MTC and ATC in Europe. Large-scale epidemiological and clinical registry-based studies are warranted to increase knowledge about the rarest TC subtypes. This information would be fundamental for the design of new clinical trials and for inference.

Population-based estimates of the occurrence of multiple vs first primary basal cell carcinomas in 4 European regions.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the population-based incidence of first and multiple basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) throughout Europe. DESIGN: The registry practices of 4 population-based cancer registries that routinely register BCC incidence were evaluated for inclusion of first and subsequent histologically confirmed BCCs. Where multiple BCCs were not routinely registered, comparisons with hospital databases were made. DATA SOURCES: Cancer registry databases from Finland, Malta, the Netherlands (Eindhoven), and Scotland were inspected for registry of first and multiple BCCs in recent years. Cross-checks with hospital and pathology databases were made to check for completeness. RESULTS: Age-standardized first BCC incidence rates varied between 77 (Malta) and 158 (Eindhoven) per 100 000 person-years. Generally, rates were higher in males than in females, and incidences increased steeply with increasing age. There were approximately 30% more patients with a BCC and 40% to 100% more BCC tumors diagnosed in a given calendar year than were routinely reported for patients with a first primary BCC. The difference between the number of first primary BCCs and the total number of BCCs in a calendar year was generally slightly higher for males than for females and increased substantially with increasing age. CONCLUSION: Currently, routinely reported first BCC incidence rates of the included countries should be multiplied by a factor of 1.3 for an estimate of total number of patients diagnosed as having a BCC in a given year.