2008 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 13-22
The structures of 288 hospitals designated for cancer control and approved by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in February 2006 were analyzed from radiotherapy aspects according to the JASTRO 2005 census survey data. The data were compiled from 266 hospitals. Overall 78,086 new patients were treated at these designated hospitals, which accounts for just a half the total number of patients in Japan. The structure of radiotherapy (RT) must be essential for cancer management, and our study showed the designated hospitals are insufficient in the RT requirement. No RT equipment is installed in 14 hospitals. Of 266, 109 hospitals treated less than 200 new patients, and 25 hospitals less than 100 in 2005.
The data analysis revealed that academic hospitals, JACC* hospitals and others are reasonable in terms of structures and capacity of radiotherapy. Moreover, both academic and JACC hospitals play similar roles to designated prefectural hospitals in cancer management by radiotherapy.
*: JACC: Japanese Association of Clinical Cancer Centers (Article in Japanese)
