Stage-specific survival of epithelial cancers in North-Holland/Flevoland, The Netherlands.

While stage is the most important factor for determining cancer survival, population-based survival data according to stage are rarely presented. We present such data for a large population diagnosed with cancer in the area covered by the Amsterdam Cancer Registry for the period 1989-2001 (n=108,251). Cases were grouped according to the TNM-classification. For all sites, a close correlation between stage at diagnosis and survival was observed. The stage-specific 5-year relative survival rate (RSR) ranged from close to 100% for stage I carcinoma of the salivary glands, thyroid, colon/rectum, skin, breast, female genitals, prostate and urethra to 1% for stage IV carcinoma of the oesophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and lung. Between 1989-1991 and 1999-2001, we observed an increase in the stage-specific RSR for carcinoma of colon/rectum (stages II-IV), lung (stages I-II), breast (stages I-III) and prostate (stages II-IV). Changes in diagnostic (breast, prostate) and staging procedures (lung), surgery (rectum, prostate) and adjuvant treatment (breast, colon) are likely to have contributed to this increase.