all cases called for the assignment of the values 0 through 9

for the following categories: in situ, local, regional with

direct extension, regional with nodal involvement, regional

with direct extension and nodal involvement, distant

metastasis, lymphoma, and unknown. The histology of the

cancer was also coded directly from the histology recorded on

the abstract. In order to account for histologies that are

found in the cancers of the lung, breast, and rectocolon, the

following categories were included: epidermoid, large cell,

adenocarcinoma, small cell, inflammatory, mesothelial, and

spindle cell. The coding for initial treatment and subse-

quent treatment was devised to reflect the combination and

sequence of treatments given. Treatments begun during the

first four months following the date of diagnosis were

classified as initial treatments. New treatments begun

subsequent to that period were classified as subsequent

treatments. Four types of cancer treatment, surgery,

radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and all

possibilities of these in combination and sequence as given

in medical practice were used as categories for initial or

subsequent treatment. Finally, the patient's survival was

measured from the date of diagnosis to the date of death and

the number of months was recorded.