Registry Databases

• N. Ireland Barrett’s Oesophagus Register (NIBR)
• Colorectal Polyps
• Northern Ireland Endometrial Hyperplasia register

N. Ireland Barrett’s Oesophagus (NIBR)

The Northern Ireland Barrett’s oesophagus Register, led by Professor Liam Murray, is one of the largest population-based registers of Barrett’s worldwide, and now includes information on >13,000 incident diagnoses in Northern Ireland since 1993.  Barrett’s oesophagus is a pre-cursor condition for the cancer, oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Key publications from this work have demonstrated that:

• Cancer progression risk in Barrett’s is lower than previously thought
• Barrett’s incidence rates have increased over and above those of endoscopy and oesophageal biopsy rates, indicating the rising incidence is not an artefact of changes in clinical practice 
• Tobacco smoking and having a Barrett’s ulcer are associated with a two-fold increased risk of progression from Barrett’s to oesophageal adenocarcinoma
• Only 7% of oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients actually had their Barrett’s diagnosed before their cancer
• As part of a multi-centre collaborative study, a panel of biomarkers may predict those at highest risk of progression from Barrett’s oesophagus to oesophageal adenocarcinoma 

Funding sources include: the UK Medical Research Council, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland (formerly the Ulster Cancer Foundation), NI HSC R&D Office, and Cancer Research UK.

Colorectal Polyps

The Colorectal Polyp Register includes information on all polyp diagnoses since 2000 in Northern Ireland (Joint PIs: Drs Marie Cantwell/Anna Gavin).  This resource has been used to investigate the risk of cancer in relation to type of polyps and findings show that elevated cancer risk remains in patients who have undergone polypectomy.  A joint molecular epidemiology study with Vanderbilt University, TN, USA, is ongoing using this resource to identify biomarkers for advanced recurrent adenomas.

Funding sources: Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.

 

Northern Ireland Endometrial Hyperplasia (EH) register

This is a population-based register of endometrial hyperplasia cases diagnosed between 2008-2020 in Northern Ireland (PI: Dr Úna McMenamin). The register will improve our understanding of the prevalence of concurrent endometrial hyperplasia and cancer diagnoses and allow estimations of cancer risk in endometrial hyperplasia patients who do not undergo hysterectomy. The register will be linked to NICR records to identify cancer diagnoses and external data linkages will further populate the register will important clinical treatment information. The results will facilitate women to make informed treatment choices following an endometrial hyperplasia diagnosis. The Register has recently been used to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pathological diagnoses of endometrial hyperplasia in NI and continued monitoring will be conducted. The register builds on previous work led by Professor Helen Coleman.

Historic funding sources: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, Queen’s University Belfast International PhD Studentship.