The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer...

Overall, cancer death rates are higher in men than women... Smoking is a risk factor for throat cancer... The drug tamoxifen is effective for certain kinds of breast cancer.

Data such as this guides the work of clinicians, researchers and epidemiologists in the field of oncology. But before they can use this data, it has to be collected, organized and analyzed. This is the job of the cancer registrar. "Registrars are really the unsung heroes in the fight against cancer," says Sara Holton, who coordinates the cancer registry at Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org).

Star Tribune, by Nancy Giguere, 12/2/09

Tags: Cancer, cancer data, cancer registrar