Detailed staging data are currently not available for sarcoma patients. This paper uses Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data to identify patients with Stage IV disease at diagnosis. Cancer patients with a record of metastasis at diagnosis were identified by combining HES data with National Cancer Data Repository data. The presence of metastases at diagnosis varied with age, sarcoma morphological sub-type, and anatomical location. Survival rates for patients with metastases were significantly lower than for those without metastases. Although not a perfect substitute for detailed staging information, the method described provides a good proxy to identify patients with Stage IV disease.
Keywords: Advanced stage cancer; Cancer; Metastases; Sarcoma.