In Japan, the diagnosis and effects of treatment of cancer patients is tracked and evaluated through a registry of the patients. Rather than a demographic or population-based tracking, the Japanese medical community has developed a number of site-specific cancer registries. The registries are administered by the research group or association of medical specialists for the site-specific area. Their promotion of the registries has resulted in national improvements in the diagnosis, surgical techniques, and treatments for cancer.
This monograph provides, from each site-specific registration committee, a description, history, number of patients and their clinical characteristics, survival rates by TNM stage, and their time trends in relation to the development of diagnostic methods and elaboration of new treatment. Through greater knowledge has come greater understanding for the medical community of the current diagnostic and therapeutic results for many Japanese cancer patients.