Information on cancer recurrence is not available in routine national clinical data, preventing important cancer research from being carried out in population-based studies. Providing this outcome would allow researchers and analysts to estimate the risk of recurrence for different groups of patients, provide much needed evidence on the best combinations of treatments, and evaluate the care and outcomes of patients whose cancer has recurred.
The project will develop and validate methods to identify cancer recurrence after curative treatment for bowel cancer in linked national clinical datasets. It will also assess how well these methods extend to breast and prostate cancer.