Appeal for Tasmanians with rare cancers to take part in study
Tasmanians suffering from rare cancers are being urged to participate in the largest ever study into less common cancers.
The Cancer Council is recruiting 15,000 Australians to participate in the Forgotten Cancers Project.
Tasmania has the second highest rate of cancer and cancer-related deaths in the country, behind the Northern Territory.
The council's Dr Fiona Bruinsma said much of the focus has been on the five most common types — breast, bowel, prostrate, lung and melanoma cancers.
In Tasmania, each year about 40 per cent of new cases of cancer were rarer and more deadly than the five most common types.
The new study will focus on the lesser known cancers such as brain, stomach, endometrial, small intestine and pancreatic cancer.
Dr Bruinsma said while numbers were comparatively small because of the population size, it was important patients from Tasmania participated.
"There's been much less work and much less is known about the less common cancers and they make up 40 per cent of diagnoses but they contribute more than 54 per cent of cancer death," she said.
"In Tasmania in 2010, there were 3,237 diagnoses of cancer and 40 per cent, or 1,273, were of less common cancers.
"So that's about 1,300 Tasmanians that each year are affected by one of these less common cancers."
Researchers will examine patients' family history, diet, sun exposure and other lifestyle factors to find any common links.
"One of the things we want to do is create a resource to do research on these cancers, so to get a large enough group of these cancers together so researchers will have this resource to identify causes," Dr Bruinsma said.
"We believe that by getting about 1,000 of each of these types of cancers it is a number that enables us to do substantial work on looking at risk factors."
Participants will be asked to answer questions and provide a saliva sample for genetic analysis.
