METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted by obtaining records in the Malaysian National Cancer Registry. Patients aged 15 years old and above with diagnosis date between 2007 and 2011 were included. Death was updated until 31 December 2016. Five-year observed survival and median survival time were determined by the life table method and Kaplan-Meier estimate method.
RESULTS: Among 1828 cases, the mean (SD) age of diagnosis was 64.9 (12.5) years. The patients were predominantly men (78.7%), Malay ethnicity (49.4%) and transitional cell carcinoma (78.2%). Only 14.8% of patients were at stage I. The overall five-year observed survival and median survival time was 36.9% (95% CI: 34.6, 39.1) and 27.3 months (95% CI: 23.6, 31.0). The highest five-year observed survival recorded at stage I (67.6%, 95% CI: 62.0, 73.3) and markedly worsen at stage II (34.3%, 95% CI: 27.9, 40.8), III (25.7%, 95% CI: 18.7, 32.6) and IV (12.2%, 95% CI: 8.1, 16.3).
CONCLUSIONS: Survival of bladder cancer patients in Malaysia was lower with advancing stage. The cancer control programme should be enhanced to improve survival.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted based on incident lung cancer cases diagnosed between 2017 and 2019 in Lampang (Thailand), Penang (Malaysia), Singapore and Yogyakarta (Indonesia). Cases (n = 3413) were defined using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology third edition. In Singapore, a clinical series obtained from the National Cancer Centre was used to identify patients, while corresponding population-based cancer registries were used elsewhere. Tumor and clinical information were abstracted by chart review according to a predefined study protocol. Molecular testing of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangement, ROS1 gene rearrangement and BRAF V600 mutation was recorded.
RESULTS: Among 2962 cases with a specified pathological diagnosis (86.8%), most patients had non-squamous NSCLC (75.8%). For cases with staging information (92.1%), the majority presented with metastatic disease (71.3%). Overall, molecular testing rates in the 1528 patients with stage IV non-squamous NSCLC were 67.0% for EGFR, 42.3% for ALK, 39.1% for ROS1, 7.8% for BRAF and 36.1% for PD-L1. Among these patients, first-line systemic treatment included chemotherapy (25.9%), targeted therapy (35.6%) and immunotherapy (5.9%), with 31% of patients having no record of antitumor treatment. Molecular testing and the proportion of patients receiving treatment were highly heterogenous between the regions.
CONCLUSIONS: This first analysis of data from a clinically annotated registry for lung cancer from four settings in Southeast Asia has demonstrated the feasibility of integrating clinical data within population-based cancer registries. Our study results identify areas where further development could improve patient access to optimal treatment.