Annual Report 2019
Department of Musculoskeletal Oncology and Rehabilitation
Akira Kawai, Fumihiko Nakatani, Eisuke Kobayashi, Shintaro Iwata, Junya Ueno, Yoshie Ino, Noriatsu Tatematsu, Yu Koishiwara, Tsuyoshi Harada, Nobuko Konishi, Mai Takahashi, Keiko Sato, Kanako Miyazaki
Introduction
Department of Musculoskeletal Oncology and Rehabilitation of NCCHE is a team consisting of a panel of orthopedic surgeons and rehabilitation professionals that started in 2012. We strive to provide expert interdisciplinary care for a variety of benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors and tumor-like conditions, and we also provide comprehensive rehabilitation services. Currently, we have four orthopedic surgeons and five rehabilitation staff engaging in the treatment of a variety of patients with the aid of other orthopedic staff from NCCHE.
The Team and What We Do
Our outpatient service is generally open two days a week (Wednesdays, Fridays) for patients with a variety of musculoskeletal tumors or cancer patients who need rehabilitation care. We also manage patients who suffer from bone metastases and other orthopedic diseases, and consult with other cancer specialists on a daily basis. To provide prosthetic and orthotic care for our patients, a special outpatient service is open on Fridays. In cases where patients need a multidisciplinary approach to treatments, we offer appropriate referral to the NCCH for further treatment. In September 2014, we opened a spacious rehabilitation unit with high-quality equipment with the aim to reduce the common side effects of cancer treatment, including fatigue, weakness, poor endurance, pain, nausea, anxiety, depression and loss of confidence. As a result, we conducted rehabilitation of patients in 2019 (Table 1).
Table 1. Characteristics and number of patients enrolled for rehabilitation.
Research activities
We have been focusing on regional cooperation with local physiotherapists in Kashiwa City with the aim to provide cancer patients in the community with seamless rehabilitation care after invasive cancer operations. So far, we have established standard methods of physiotherapy and functional evaluations.
Clinical trials
1. A multi-institutional phase III clinical trial of multi-drugs adjuvant chemotherapy for osteosarcomas (The Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) 0905) since 2010.
2. A multi-institutional phase III clinical trial of multi-drugs adjuvant chemotherapy for osteosarcomas (JCOG 1306) since 2014.
3. A multi-institutional phase III clinical trial of preoperative denosumab for giant cell tumor (JCOG 1610) since 2017
4. A multi-institutional randomized phase II clinical trial of second line chemotherapy for advanced soft tissue sarcoma (JCOG 1802) since 2019
Education
We have been engaging in several educational lectures for the medical staff to promote the importance of rehabilitation for cancer treatment. We also provide some instructive lectures for the medical staff in the community.
Future prospects
The recent evolution of cancer treatment increases the demand for orthopedic care and rehabilitation of cancer survivors. We must consistently focus on standardization for the methodology of rehabilitation for all cancer patients, which will be beneficial for the augmentation of quality of life for cancer patients.