Tumor registries provide a valuable source of treatment, survival, and epidemiologic data but have been faulted for incomplete and insufficient collection of data. An eight page, 38-item Cancer Patient Questionnaire (CPQ) was developed to collect more extensive information for the tumor registry. The CPQ identified significantly more patients with a family history of cancer than had previously been detected by chart review by the tumor registrar. The CPQ agreed with data collected by the tumor registry in 96% of cases for place of birth, 84% of cases for occupational history, 91% of cases for tobacco use, and 88% of cases for number of pregnancies or live births. The Cancer Patient Questionnaire is complete and easy to use and may replace the chart review in the collection of these data.