title: Common variables in European pancreatic cancer registries: The introduction of the EURECCA pancreatic cancer project.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality assurance of cancer care is of utmost importance to detect and avoid under and over treatment. Most cancer data are collected by different procedures in different countries, and are poorly comparable at an international level. EURECCA, acronym for European Registration of Cancer Care, is a platform aiming to harmonize cancer data collection and improve cancer care by feedback. After the prior launch of the projects on colorectal, breast and upper GI cancer, EURECCA's newest project is collecting data on pancreatic cancer in several European countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  National cancer registries, as well as specific pancreatic cancer audits/registries, were invited to participate in EURECCA Pancreas. Participating countries were requested to share an overview of their collected data items. Of the received datasets, a shared items list was made which creates insight in similarities between different national registries and will enable data comparison on a larger scale. Additionally, first data was requested from the participating countries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over 24 countries have been approached and 11 confirmed participation: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom. The number of collected data items varied between 16 and 285. This led to a shared items list of 25 variables divided into five categories: patient characteristics, preoperative diagnostics, treatment, staging and survival. Eight countries shared their first data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A list of 25 shared items on pancreatic cancer coming from eleven participating registries was created, providing a basis for future prospective data collection in pancreatic cancer treatment internationally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: de Leede
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Sibinga Mulder
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bastiaannet
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Poston
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Medical University of Vienna/ABCSG Pancreatic Cancer Registry, Austria.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sahora
authors.affiliation: Belgian Cancer Registry, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Eycken
authors.affiliation: Bulgarian National Cancer Registry/National Oncological Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Valerianova
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital/Danish Pancreas Cancer Group, Denmark.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Halle-Wittenberg/Pancreatic Cancer Register, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dralle
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Cancer Registry/Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Primic-Žakelj
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Borràs
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Linköping University/Swedish Registry for Pancreatic Tumors, Sweden.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gasslander
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Registry of Ukraine/National Institute of Cancer, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ryzhov
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Netherlands Cancer Registry/Comprehensive Cancer Centre The Netherlands (IKNL), Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Lemmens
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J S D
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Mieog
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Boelens
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: c.j.h.van_de_velde@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: C J H
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: van de Velde
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bonsing
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012042:Registries
keywords: Audit; EURECCA; Pancreatic cancer; Quality assurance; Registry