Services
Our Division includes five consulting radiologists and 12 technologists. As our routine work, every effort is made to produce an integrated report covering all examinations, such as plain radiographic examinations (chest, abdomen, head, neck, breast, bone and other structures), contrast radiological procedures (digestive, urinary and respiratory tracts), CT, MRI, RI, angiography and interventional radiology (IVR), mainly trans-arterial embolization (TAE). Examination reports are immediately available for physicians who call the radiologist by telephone. The number of patients examined by each procedure in 1997 is shown in the table on statistics. In addition, several conferences (teleradiologic, pre- and postoperative) have been regularly held in our division.

Research
Our division has been developing the system of helical CT with support of the Comprehensive 10-year Strategy for Cancer Control and a new 10-year strategy for cancer control. The technique of helical CT-guided subsegmental TAE for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma was established in 1995, and a prospective study assessing its clinical utility is ongoing. To date, this procedure has shown high therapeutic efficiency while being minimally invasive and minimally burdensome for patients.
Helical CT is also applicable to screening for lung cancer. A feasibility study is ongoing in cooperation with the thoracic oncology groups in the National Cancer Center and the Anti-Lung Cancer Association. We have already found 26 lesions of lung cancer in this trial, with a mean diameter of 16 mm, and of the 26, only 8 (32%) were detectable as abnormalities on conventional plain chest X-ray film.

New Developments
1. By using an exclusive optical fiber line between the Tsukiji and Kashiwa campuses, regular and optional image conferences have been held. According to extension of this network, these conferences have been opened to other cancer centers, as well as other national hospitals.
2. Depending on the recent advancement of computer graphics, our division has achieved great success in obtaining three-dimensional displays of the internal body, based on imaging data from helical CT and MRI. This is actually useful for planning surgery or radiotherapy, training of doctors and patient education.
3. In the field of computer aided diagnosis (CAD), an auto diagnosis system for breast cancer using mammograms, for lung cancer using CT images and for brain tumors using MRI images are developing. These CAD systems promise to have great influence on cancer diagnosis as well as patient care in the near future.
4. Helical CT provides angiographic images of arterial, portal and venous phases of the whole liver within a short examination time. Recently, our division has developed a new diagnostic system using helical CT to obtain the most appropriate image in each phase of the liver and pancreas automatically after intravenous injection of a contrast medium.

Statistics

Number of Patients Examined in 1997

Plain X-ray examination	39,032
Mammography	1,205
Fluorography (GI-series, etc.)	3,803
CT	21,653
MRI	3,641
RI	2,308
Angiography	947
Total	72,589

(N. Moriyama)

Table of Contents