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ID 118868
Title Alternative
Brachytherapy in Japan
Author
Ii, Noriko Ise Red Cross Hospital
Noda, Shin-ei Saitama Medical University
Masui, Koji Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
Murakami, Naoya Juntendo University
Yoshida, Ken Kansai Medical University
Watanabe, Miho Chiba University
Kawamura, Shinnji Teikyo University
Kojima, Toru Saitama Prefectural Cancer Center
Nomoto, Yoshihito Mie University
Toita, Takafumi Okinawa Chubu Hospital
Ohno, Tatsuya Gunma University
Sakurai, Hideyuki University of Tsukuba
Onishi, Hiroshi University of Yamanashi
Keywords
brachytherapy
medical resources
national survey
patterns of care
resident education
Content Type
Journal Article
Description
This study aimed to assess the current state of brachytherapy (BT) resources, practices and resident education in Japan. A nationwide survey was undertaken encompassing 177 establishments facilitating BT in 2022. Questionnaires were disseminated to each BT center, and feedback through online channels or postal correspondence was obtained. The questionnaire response rate was 90% (159/177), and every prefecture had a response in at least one center. The number of centers in each prefecture ranged from 0.6 to 3.6 (median: 1.3) per million population. The annual number of patients in each center ranged from 0 to 272 (median: 31). While most prefectures provided intracavitary (IC) BT for gynecological cancers and interstitial (IS) BT for prostate cancer, only one-third of the prefectures provided IS BT for cancer sites other than the prostate. The institutional image-guided BT implementation rate was 71%. IC and IS BT was performed for 15.4% of IC BT cases of gynecological cancer. Only 47% of the BT training centers answered that they could provide adequate training in BT for residents. The most common reason for this finding was the insufficient number of patients in each center. The results show that, although BT has achieved uniformity in terms of facility penetration, new technologies are not yet widespread enough. Furthermore, IS BT, which requires advanced skills, is limited to a few BT centers, and considerable number of BT training centers do not have sufficient caseloads to provide the necessary experience for their residents.
Journal Title
Journal of Radiation Research
ISSN
13499157
NCID
AA00705792
Publisher
Oxford University Press|The Japanese Radiation Research Society|Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology
Volume
65
Issue
2
Start Page
168
End Page
176
Published Date
2023-12-26
Rights
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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DOI (Published Version)
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language
eng
TextVersion
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departments
Medical Sciences