You may find these resources useful when abstracting or coding cancer cases, doing research, following up on patients or in preparing for the certified tumor registrar (CTR) exam. Since I expect you are already familiar with the Registry Operations and Data Stan-dards (ROADS) manuals, the Survival, Epidemiology and End Results' (SEER) Extent of Disease and Program Code manuals, and the American Joint Committee on Cancer's (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual, I've not included them. Nor have I included the two most basic resources that every registrar should possess: an anatomy text and a medical dictionary.

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Reference Materials, Resource Lists and Literature Searches

Think of this first group of resources as visitor information booths. Some will point you toward the answer you need, and others will contain the answer itself. Although there are amazing resources available on the Internet, it is wise to check with your facility's medical librarian if you are doing a serious literature search to get the most out of it.

* American Cancer Society Textbook of Clinical Oncology, or Cancer Manual, 9th Edition. These two books, which are both published by the American Cancer Society, are very similar and are excellent clinical references for cancer registrars. (To order these books, call the American Cancer Society Bookstore at: 888-227-5552.)

* Cancer Registry Management Principles & Practice. Personally, I think no registry should be without this book, which the National Cancer Registrars Associa-tion (NCRA) published in 1997. I have flagged certain sections in my book because I refer to them so often! (To order this book, call NCRA at: 800-228-0810. NCRA members receive a $20 discount.)

* The SEER Program's Self-Instructional Manuals for Tumor Registrars. Although these eight books have been around a long time, they are still an excellent reference. I often refer to Book 8--Antineoplastic Drugs--when abstracting. The other books are helpful when preparing for the CTR exam. (To order these books, call the Cancer Information Service--Publication Ordering Service at: 800-4-CANCER.)

* The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. If you actually enjoy statistics, you'll enjoy this book by Edward R. Tufte. It has abundant examples of both good and bad ways to illustrate quantitative data. (To order this book, call Graphics Press at: 800-822-2454.)

* Links offered on the American College of Sur-geons' (ACoS) cancer department's Web site (www .facs.org/about_college/acsdept/cancer_dept/canlinks .html). This great group of links is organized into the following categories: general cancer resources and organizations; pediatric cancer information; site-specific cancer information; cancer centers; cancer registries; state cancer registries, cancer statistics and databases; and organizations affiliated with the ACoS's Commission on Cancer (CoC).

* Cancer Registries on the Web (www.ikr.nl/canregs .htm). The Rotterdam Cancer Registry maintains this page to facilitate communication between cancer registries. It consists primarily of links to cancer registries around the world. In addition, registries that do not have the resources to create their own Web site may apply to them for a free home page.

* Cancerlit^® (cancernet.nci.nih.gov/cancerlit.shtml). National Cancer Institute's (NCI) bibliographic database.

* CancerNet^? (cancernet.nci.nih.gov). NCI's cancer information network.

* Children's Cancer Web (www.nlc.ac.uk/~nchwww/guides /guide2.htm). This U.K. site offers many valuable links for anyone involved with childhood cancer, ranging from doctors to children.

* C/NET Web resources for the Cancer Registrar (205.217 .46.130/cnet/cnotes/websites.htm). This list contains a number of sites I use regularly. It is one of the only lists of cancer registry resources that includes a link to the U.S. Census Bureau.

* Medicine OnLine^? (www.meds.com/index.html). This site offers medical information and education in oncology; Medline^® literature searches; the Daily Oncology News Digest; Cancer Forums discussion groups and reports from medical meetings.

* Medlineplus (cmedlineplus.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/directories .html). The National Library of Medicine's information pages direct users toward resources such as dictionaries, hospital and physician directories, Medline and more.

* NCRA's external links (www.ncra-usa.org/links.html). NCRA has links to 22 national and international cancer organizations and to 25 other resources for registrars. A great one is the "Guide to Worldwide Online Phonebooks."

* Oncolink^® (cancer.med.upenn.edu/). This is an easy to use, well-organized site with links to many useful cancer-related sites. I love this site when I'm in a big hurry!

* PDQ^®. The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) comprehensive cancer database can be accessed three ways:

1) on the Internet (cancernet.nci.nih.gov/pdq.htm);

2) by electronic mail ("CancerMail") at cancermail@icicc .nci.nih.gov. Send an e-mail message with the word "help" in the body of the message, and a content list and instructions will be e-mailed back to you; or

3) by fax ("CancerFax") at (301) 402-5874. Call the CancerFax computer from the telephone on a fax machine, and the voice-mail will prompt you through the system. The first document to request is the CancerFax content list. After you review it to determine the ID numbers of the documents you need, call back from the telephone on your fax machine and follow the directions.

* The Virtual Reference Collection (libraries.mit.edu/services/virtualref.html). This compilation offers more online reference materials than you would believe. It will make your local library jealous!

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Statistics

The quality and availability of comparative statistics continues to improve. These sources are invaluable for an active cancer registry.

* Cancer Facts & Figures reports. I refer to these reports, which are published annually by the American Cancer Society (ACS), when writing annual reports for our cancer program. They are availabld:

1) in print (through your local ACS office); or

2) on the Internet at: www.cancer.org/main.html. First click on "Cancer Information," then on "Statistics," then on "Facts & Figures." Then, make your selection from the drop down list in the middle of the screen.

* National Cancer Database (www.facs.org/about_college /acsdept/cancer_dept/programs/ncdb/ncdb.html). This site in-cludes annotated bibliographies, clinical information bibliographies, cancer statistics by disease site, and instructions and forms for patient care evaluation studies.

* SEER statistics. Whatever method you use to access SEER statistics, it is free! Statistics are available on SEER incidence and trends and on U.S. mortality rates and trends. You can apply SEER incidence rates to a local population (using U.S. Census Bureau data) to determine your market share in that geographic area. This is also important when preparing NCI grant applications. SEER statistics are availabld:

1) in print (SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1991);

2) on CD-ROM (SEER 1973-1996 public use CD-ROM);

3) on the Internet (www-seer.ims.nci.nih.gov /ScientificSystems/Canques1973_1996/).

You can request the CD-ROM or print version of SEER statistics by faxing (301) 402-0816; or by writing to NCI SEER Program, EPN323J, Bethesda MD 20892.

* U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov/population). Look here for population statistics. If you don't have Internet access, most public libraries will fax a few pages of numbers to individuals who ask.

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International and National Organizations and Study Groups

Most of the organizations listed here are well-known. I have included a lot of pediatric groups because I work in a pediatric registry and have found them helpful.

* American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org

* Commission on Cancer: www.facs.org/

* Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention: www.cdc.gov/

* Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group: rhabdo.org/

* National Cancer Institute: www.nci.nih.gov/

* CureSearch: www.curesearch.org 

* National Wilms Tumor Study Group: www.fhcrc.org/science /phs/nwtsg/

* NCI Cancer Trials: cancertrials.nci.nih.gov/

* Pediatric Oncology Group: www.pog.ufl.edu/

* U.S. Census Bureau: www.census.gov/

* World Health Organization: www.who.int/

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Finding People

I, like most cancer registrars, spend a large part of my time trying to follow up on patients. The following are Internet sites that have made this task much easier.

* AMA Physician Select (www.ama-assn.org/iwcf/iwcfmgr206 /aps?1904920210). If you just can't figure out the address or phone number for a doctor, try this site.

* Anywho (www.anywho.com). This online phone book is one of my very favorite sites. You can search for someone by name, by phone number or by street name. It's fast and usually accurate.

* Search-It-All (www.search-it-all .com/). Look for people, things, subjects and places--you name it!

* Social Security Death Index (www .ancestry.com/ancestry/search.asp). If you're following up on a patient who you think may have died, this is the place to check.

* State parole boards, inmates, criminal histories and prison info. (www.inil.com/users/dguss/GATOR70.HTM). Yes, sometimes folks who have had cancer end up in jail for something or other. If you don't know how to reach a particular prison to inquire about that, try this site.

* Telephone directories on the Web (www.teldir.com/). This is the most complete index of online phone books that I've found.

* U.S.P.S. ZIP+4 Code Lookup (www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups /lookup_zip+4.html). If you need to find out someone's nine-digit ZIP code, verify that their address exists or find out what county the address is in, this site has the answers. I use it for every new patient, for all of these reasons.

Theresa M. Hayden is the cancer registrar at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle.