Rare tumors: A comprehensive analysis of cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate differences between the data from project "Surveillance of Rare Cancers in Europe" (RARECARENet) and the data from the Institute of Oncology "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta" (IOIC). Methods: Data from the institutional cancer registry of IOIC through 2012 to 2013 and the data published in RARECARENet project were compared. Results: There were 14,127 cases in the IOIC cancer registry but only 13632 complied with the RARECARENet categories. Of these, 7382 (54%) were common, 5975 (44%) were rare, and 275 (2%) were in the "Other" category compared to RARECARENet (64%, 22%, 14%; p<0.01). From a total of 65 tumor categories, 34 (2.3%) should be given special treatment for rare tumors. Comparing the cases of the IOIC with the data of the RARECARENet project, 14 out of 65 categories showed significant structural differences and these represented 81% of our cases. 44.7% of cancers were rare compared to only 22% at the level of the European project (p<0.01). Conclusion: Globally, Oncology Institute "Prof.Dr. Ion Chiricuta" receives a large number of rare tumors. There are differences between RARECARENet and IOIC, but these differences are probably due largely to the fact that IOIC receives the largest number of rare tumors from the surrounding area.