The Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR), a statewide population-based registry, compiles information to help guide policies for cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and survivorship. LTR data can help reduce the state’s cancer burden and disparities and can improve the survival and quality of life for all cancer patients.

Users of LTR data include cancer prevention programs, physicians and other medical practitioners, planning offices for healthcare facilities, the public health community, and researchers. These groups rely on timely, complete, and high-quality data from the Registry.

The LTR participates in both the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute and the National Program of Central Cancer Registries (NPCR) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The LTR is one of only 10 Specialized Registries that are funded by the NPCR to collect enhanced data to support Comparative Effectiveness Research.

LTR data have received Gold Certificates from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries every year since 1997, and they also meet the high-quality standards of the NPCR and SEER.

The LTR has developed an infrastructure for cancer research. Its rapid case ascertainment system, which builds on electronic pathology reporting, identifies more than 90% of all cancer cases shortly after diagnosis. The LTR has extensive experience in cancer research studies, especially studies of patterns of care, patient-reported quality of life, and survivorship.