The Neuro-Oncology Register.

In this report we describe the establishment of a Neuro-Oncology Register (NOR) at the University Hospital of Maastricht, The Netherlands. The register includes data on numbers and types of primary central nervous system (CNS) tumours and neurological complications of systemic cancer. One of the objectives of the register is to determine the incidence rate of neuro-oncological complications in systemic tumours and the incidence and prevalence rates of primary CNS tumours in a well-defined population. The catchment area of the NOR was defined with the help of the Dutch Regional Cancer Register. It involves 140,819 inhabitants and will be considered as our catchment population. At present, 1,168 cases have been recorded since the NOR became operational. All neuro-oncological reports in 1988 were chosen for further analysis (n = 276). We diagnosed 79 metastatic complications from systemic cancer. Metastasis of the brain is the most frequent metastatic complication in our population, followed by epidural metastasis. As in other series, the lung and breast are the most frequently encountered tumour sites. The NOR is a clinically based register which, in co-operation with the Dutch Regional Cancer Register, will generate important epidemiological data on CNS complications.