Preface

It has been 55 years since the National Cancer Center Hospital (NCCH) was established. The NCCH has cooperated with patients and the society to realize a world where people can surmount the cancer, and so cancer patients can live with cancer with a peaceful mind. The NCCH has not only provided the best medical treatment and functioned as a hub hospital for cancer therapy in Japan, but has also been committing high-quality clinical research to establish a more effective and safer brand-new-medicine.

In September 2016, we established the Supportive Care Development Center on the 8th floor of the hospital building to provide medical care for the improvement of quality of life (QOL) for patients and their families. In an unconventional atmosphere, medicine and care which patients really need, have been provided by multimodal and multidisciplinary teams to contribute to the improvement of patients QOL and palliative medicine. At the same time, we are establishing an evidence-based supportive care medicine through several projects conducted by the Japan Supportive, Palliative and Psychosocial Oncology Group (J-Support). Nowadays, international view and collaborations are required for medical development, and the NCCH has been selected for the Global Clinical Trial Development Project for this year.

The NCCH has greatly contributed to establish standard medical treatment of cancer mainly by the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG), however, strong demands from patients and their families for a more effective and more patient-friendly medical development still exists. We have launched several large-scale development projects, such as the medical application of 8K Super Hi-Vision Technology and artificial intelligence (AI), which would make future medicine. For rare cancer, the Rare Cancer Center has conducted several working groups to improve medical quality of rare cancer patients, and from January 2017, we will regularly conduct "Rare Cancer Meet the Experts" seminars to deliver correct and current medical information for rare cancer patients.

Now, cancer medicine is just in the paradigm shift to move to the precision medicine based on personal genomic information. In the end of 2016, the "Cancer Genome Medical Forum 2016" aimed to put an end to the fight against cancer was held in the National Cancer Center (NCC). In conjunction with this, we, the NCCH, have expanded and enhanced the CLIA-compatible NGS Lab (SCI-Lab) etc. to provide properly precision medicine for cancer patients. In the area of rare cancer, we have started the "MASTER KEY Project", a basket and umbrella trials for rare cancer and rare fractions.

We have further strengthened the healthcare safety system to provide qualified medical development and have decided to establish the Department of Medical Informatics to properly manage medical information and its further utilization, and also to strengthen the security of medical information. Over the past year, we have built a sustainable background and infrastructure to create our future vision. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in cancer.

Toshirou Nishida, M.D., Ph.D.

Director of the Hospital

National Cancer Center Hospital