The Yorkshire Region Children's Tumour Registry--the role of the specialised children's.

The Yorkshire Regional Children's Tumour Registry (YRCTR) has been operating since the early 1980's in Leeds. It has collected registrations of childhood cancer from (approximately) the Yorkshire Regional Health Authority (RHA) area for the years 1974 onwards. All malignant neoplasms, all intracranial tumours, and a number of other disorders diagnosed in persons aged 14 or under, resident in the RHA area are included. For several reasons large general cancer registries are unable to cover childhood malignancies as well as they do adult malignancies. Many of these problems can be addressed by establishing a specialist register. This also has certain advantages for researchers, and can serve as a useful basis for diverse types of research work.