History of MD Anderson's tumor registry

Abstract

The Tumor Registry Department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is responsible for a database that contains demographic and disease information for all patients assigned a medical record number at MD Anderson, starting with the first patient registered on 1 March 1944. In its function as a hospital registry, the Tumor Registry database contains information about every patient seen at the institution, regardless of the patient's final diagnosis. The institution has always focused on cancer, and every patient has come to the institution because of a cancer-related issue: some with a malignancy, some with a benign or nonneoplastic condition, and some to rule out cancer. Because of this, each patient's information is of value to the hospital.