Supportive care programs in cancer at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo.

Until recently, supportive care for cancer patients in Japan was not well organized. Not too many oncologists paid attention to the improvement of daily life of patients with advanced or terminal cancer. Oncological staffs such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, and pharmacists at hospitals in Japan did not really cooperate efficiently. Recently, however, we have begun to develop and to expand activities for supportive care of cancer patients using new concepts of treatment. At the National Cancer Center in Japan an effort is being made to expand activities in PCU, the application of Chinese acupuncture for pain relief, and the development of a virtual reality technique. A system to connect cancer centers has been established and is now being expanded to facilitate a new database on up-to-date cancer information. We have already started holding multi-institutional medical teleconferences, telepathology and teleradiology on a weekly basis, covering nine cancer centers throughout Japan.