The regional registry of gastro-intestinal cancer North Baden (2.2 million inhabitants).

The advantages of a population-based registry are discussed. It is shown that a registry for gastro-intestinal cancer in a district with expert medical care based upon histo-pathological diagnosis, has the principal advantage that it limits the sites of material collection to a few effective contributors, thus providing highly accurate data. The disadvantage of collecting data by two separate steps should be tolerated. The geographic situation and the organization of the regional registry for gastro-intestinal cancer in North Baden are described and the incidences for these cancers for the years 1971-1975 are given for the population of 2.2 million.