Abstract
The Department of Urology of the Chiba Cancer Center, in association with urologists of regional private clinics, revised the regional cooperation critical pathway (hereafter,“path") for urological cancer with the aim of promoting regional cooperation and improving the efficiency of the services provided to outpatients. To make follow-up observations easier for the concerned doctors, 3 paths were developed involving the use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA):the post-prostate biopsy PSA follow-up path, the post-prostatectomy follow-up path and the endocrine therapy path. Initially only these 3 paths were used but currently the cancer center employs a total of 6 paths:4 post-prostate cancer-related paths and 2 bladder cancer-related paths. At the end of September 2008, a total 224 patients had been introduced to the cooperating medical institutions and so far encountered 2 examples of variance. When a questionnaire was presented to the urologists at the cooperating medical institutions and at the Chiba Cancer Center regarding the paths, the opinions obtained were generally favorable. Since not even a year though has passed since these paths were introduced, the data are yet insufficient to establish a connection between them and the services provided. However, continued utilization of the paths and, more importantly, an increase in the number of participating facilities can pave the way for the development of new paths and medical treatment modalities.
