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Annual Report 2019

Ladies Center

Tetsuo Akimoto, Toru Mukohara, Tatsuya Ohnishi, Hiroshi Tababe, Masaki Nakamura, Kenichi Harano, Ako Hosono, Takeshi Kuwata, Junya Ueno, Miki Kondo, Hatoko Sakamoto, Masato Yonemura, Ikuko Chiba

Introduction

 The Ladies Center has established sections engaged in the following services, in addition to clinical departments providing surgical therapy, drug therapy and radiotherapy, to facilitate an understanding by the patients of the therapeutic strategies available for female cancer patients and understand the characteristics and unique problems of these patients, and to promote organized cooperation among relevant clinical departments and professionals in multiple fields. The following services are provided in regular medical care under health insurance, and a system that allows these services to be provided to female cancer patients in a structured manner was established.

1) Fertility counseling/management

2) Support for young female cancer patients including children and the adolescent and young adult (AYA) generation

3) Social support and appearance counseling/support

4) Genetic counseling

5) Counseling/evaluation on the necessity of rehabilitation, including lymphedema, and management

6) Counseling on adverse reactions to drug therapy and other treatments

The Team and What We Do

 The Ladies Center is staffed with persons who manage female cancer patients in the female nursing outpatient clinic to help them understand their diseases, to understand the background characteristics and problems of individual patients through interviews and questionnaires, and to evaluate the necessity for counseling and support in cooperation with relevant clinical departments. Between April 2019 and March 2020, the Center handled 2126 inquiries, including 420 cases of counseling on life, 446 cases of counseling specific to females, 730 cases of counseling on symptoms associated with treatment, 788 cases of counseling on treatment, and 344 other cases. In addition, since two or more staff are required in many cases, regular multidisciplinary conferences of persons in charge of the sections and the person in charge of the female nursing outpatient clinic are held twice a month to strengthen cooperation among the sections. In the conferences, management and cooperation are discussed and feedback is given for better clinical management. Furthermore, a patient salon named “Kashiwanoha salon - to support your personality” was newly established at the National Cancer Center Hospital East when the Ladies Center was opened. In the patient salon, make-up classes, skin and nail care classes, classes for education on anticancer drugs, a peer supporters’ salon, and other activities are undertaken.

Research activities

1. In-hospital fertility counseling and management flow was created and a system for the management of fertility preservation in cancer patients and their families was developed. In addition, a lecture meeting on fertility preservation was held.

2. A system for performing risk-reducing surgery for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC) was developed and risk-reducing surgery was started.

Education

 An educational program for medical professionals who support cancer patients in the AYA generation was developed and began operation in fiscal year 2019.

Future prospects

 The Ladies Center was opened in September 2018. In the future, it plans to further promote the activities of the sections and improve the management of female cancer patients inside and outside the hospital.