Palliative Care for Patients with Gynecologic Cancer in Japan: A Japan Society of Gynecologic Palliative Medicine (JSGPM) Survey

Futagami, Masayuki,Yokoyama, Yoshihito,Sato, Tetsumi,Hirota, Kazuyoshi,Shimada, Muneaki,Miyagi, Etsuko,Suzuki, Nao,Fujimura, Masaki Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.10

Purpose: To evaluate palliative care for patients with gynecologic cancer in Japan. Materials and Method: A questionnaire asking facility characteristics, systems to coordinate palliative care, current status of end-of-life care, provision of symptom relief, palliative radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and cases of death from gynecological cancer, was mailed to facilities treating gynecologic cancer. Results: A total of 115 facilities (29.3% of the total) responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 33.0 (29.0%) had a palliative care ward. End-of-life care was managed by obstetricians and gynecologists in 72.0% of the facilities. The site where end-of-life care was provided was most often a ward in the department where the respondent worked. The waiting period for transfer to a hospice was 2 weeks or more in 52% of facilities. Before the start of primary treatment, pain control was managed by obstetrians and gynecologists in 98.0% of facilities. Palliative radiation therapy or chemotherapy was administered at 93.9% and 92.0% of facilities, respectively. Of the 115 facilities, 34.0 (29.6%) reported cases of death from gynecological cancer. There were 1,134 cases of death. The median time between the last cycle of chemotherapy and death was 85 days for all gynecological cancers. The proportion of patients receiving chemotherapy in the last 30 and 14 days of life were 17.4% and 7.1%, respectively. Conclusions: This large-scale survey showed characteristics of palliative care given to patients with gynecologic cancer in Japan. Assessment of death cases showed that the median time between the last cycle of chemotherapy and death was relatively short.

RF-enhanced DC-magnetron Sputtering of Indium Tin Oxide

Futagami, Toshiro,Kamei, Masayuki,Yasui, Itaru,Shigesato, Yuzo The Korean Ceramic Society 2001 The Korean journal of ceramics Vol.7 No.1

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films were deposited on glass substrates at $300^{\circ}C$ in oxygen/argon mixtures by RF-enhanced DC-magnetron sputtering and were compared to those by conventional DC magnetron sputtering. The RF enhancement was performed using a coil above an ITO target. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that RF-enhanced plasma affected the preferred orientation and the crystallinity of the films. The resistivity of the films prepared by RF-enhanced DC-magnetron sputtering was almost constant at oxygen content lower than 0.3% and then increased sharply with increasing oxygen content. However the resistivity of the films by conventional sputtering has little dependence on the oxygen content. Those results can be explained on the basis of the incorporation of oxygen into the ITO films due to the RF enhancement.

Decreased ARID1A expression is correlated with chemoresistance in epithelial ovarian cancer

Yoshihito Yokoyama,Yoko Matsushita,Tatsuhiko Shigeto,Masayuki Futagami,Hideki Mizunuma 대한부인종양학회 2014 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.25 No.1

Objective: Loss of ARID1A is related to oncogenic transformation of ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma. The present study was conducted in epithelial ovarian cancer of all tissue types to investigate whether an increased or decreased expression level of ARID1A can be a prognostic factor for ovarian cancer or can influence the sensitivity to anticancer drugs. Methods: The expression level of ARID1A was investigated in 111 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who received initial treatment at the Hirosaki University Hospital between 2006 and 2011. The expression level of ARID1A was immunohistochemically graded using staining scores, which were calculated by multiplying the staining intensity of the nuclei by the stain-positive area. Results: The level of ARID1A was significantly lower in clear cell adenocarcinoma than in other histologic types. Among the patients with stage III, IV cancer (n=46), the level of ARID1A was significantly lower (p=0.026) in patients who did not achieve complete response (CR; n=12) than in patients who achieved CR (n=34). The level of ARID1A was relatively lower (p=0.07) in patients who relapsed after achieving CR (n=21) than in patients who did not relapse (n=13). When the staining score of 0 was defined as ARID1A-negative and other staining scores were defined as ARID1A-positive, there was significant difference in progression-free survival between ARID1A-negative (n=11) and ARID1A-positive (n=35) patients in stage III, IV disease. Conclusion: The result suggests that decreased ARID1A expression is correlated with chemoresistance and may be a predictive factor for the risk of relapse of advanced cancer after achieving CR.

A Strategy Using Photodynamic Therapy and Clofibric Acid to Treat Peritoneal Dissemination of Ovarian Cancer

Yokoyama, Yoshihito,Shigeto, Tatsuhiko,Miura, Rie,Kobayashi, Asami,Mizunuma, Makito,Yamauchi, Aisa,Futagami, Masayuki,Mizunuma, Hideki Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.2

Background: The current study examined the effectiveness of concurrent therapy using photodynamic therapy (PDT) and clofibric acid (CA) to treat peritoneal carcinomatosis resulting from ovarian cancer. Materials and Methods: Nude rats were used to create a model of peritoneal carcinomatosis resulting from ovarian cancer and the effectiveness of PDT with 5-aminolevulinic acid methyl ester hydrochloride (methyl-ALA-PDT) was determined. The survival time of rats receiving that therapy was compared to the survival time of a control group. Rats with peritoneal carcinomatosis resulting from ovarian cancer were divided into 3 groups: a group that received debulking surgery (DS) alone, a group that received DS+methyl-ALA-PDT, and a group that received DS+methyl-ALA-PDT+CA. The survival time of the 3 groups was compared. Protoporphyrin, a metabolite of methyl-ALA, produces a photochemical action when activated by light. The level of protoporphyrin (the concentration) that reached organs in the abdomen was measured with HPLC. Results: Rats receiving methyl-ALA-PDT had a significantly longer survival time compared to the controls. Rats with peritoneal carcinomatosis that received DS+methyl-ALA-PDT+CA had a significantly longer survival time compared to the rats that received DS alone. Some of the rats that received concurrent therapy survived for a prolonged period. Protoporphyrin was highly concentrated in peritoneal metastases, but only small amounts reached major organs in the abdomen. PDT was not found to result in necrosis in the intestines. Conclusions: The results indicated that concurrent therapy consisting of PDT with methyl-ALA and CA is effective at treating peritoneal carcinomatosis resulting from ovarian cancer without damaging organs.

Clinicopathologic features, treatment, prognosis and prognostic factors of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium: a retrospective analysis of 42 cases from the Kansai Clinical Oncology Group/Intergroup study in Japan

Harunobu Matsumoto,Mototsugu Shimokawa,Kaei Nasu,Ayumi Shikama,Takaya Shiozaki,Masayuki Futagami,Kentaro Kai,Hiroaki Nagano,Taisuke Mori,Mitsutake Yano,Norihiro Sugino,Etsuko Fujimoto,Norihito Yoshiok 대한부인종양학회 2019 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.30 No.6

Objective: We conducted a retrospective, multi-institutional, collaborative study to accumulate cases of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium, to clarify its clinicopathologic features, treatment, prognosis and prognostic factors to collate findings to establish future individualized treatment regimens. To our knowledge, this is the largest case study and the first study to statistically analyze the prognosis of this disease. Methods: At medical institutions participating in the Kansai Clinical Oncology Group/Intergroup, cases diagnosed at a central pathologic review as neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium between 1995 and 2014 were enrolled. We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathologic features, treatment, prognosis and prognostic factors of this disease. Results: A total of 65 cases were registered from 18 medical institutions in Japan. Of these, 42 (64.6%) cases were diagnosed as neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium based on the central pathological review and thus included in the study. Advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages (stage III and IV) and pure type small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma cases had a significantly worse prognosis. Upon multivariate analysis, only histologic subtypes and surgery were significant prognostic factors. Pure type cases had a significantly worse prognosis compared to mixed type cases and complete surgery cases had a significantly better prognosis compared to cases with no or incomplete surgery. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that complete surgery improves the prognosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium. Even among cases with advanced disease stages, if complete surgery is expected to be achieved, clinicians should consider curative surgery to improve the prognosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the endometrium.

Perceptions and practice patterns of cancer survivorship care among Japanese gynecologic oncologists: The JGOG questionnaire survey

Mikiko Asai-Sato,Nao Suzuki,Hitomi Sakai,Yoshio Itani,Shinya Satoh,Masayuki Futagami,Yoshio Yoshida 대한부인종양학회 2023 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.34 No.1

Objective: This study aimed to assess gynecologic oncologists (GOs)’ perceptions and attitudes toward cancer survivorship to help improve survivor care. Methods: We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey about survivorship issues for the GOs belonging to the Japan Gynecologic Oncology Group. We analyzed the proactiveness of the participants toward addressing 25 survivor issues. In addition, the practice patterns and barriers to care for survivors’ long-term health issues, such as second primary cancer (SPC) and lifestyle-related diseases (LSRD), and return-to-work (RTW) support were assessed. Results: We received 313 responses. The respondents had a mean of 22 years of physician experience. The ratio of men to women was approximately 7:3, and 84.7% worked at facilities for multidisciplinary cancer treatment. The respondents’ proactiveness for addressing psychosocial problems was significantly lower than physical and gynecological issues (p<0.01 by χ2 test). However, most GOs tried to contribute to such issues according to patients’ demands. Women GOs were more proactively involved in some survivorship issues than the men (p<0.05 by logistic regression analysis). The rates of the respondents who proactively discussed SPC, LSRD, and RTW were unexpectedly high (60.7%, 36.1%, and 52.4%, respectively). However, the GOs only provided verbal support for these issues in many cases. Conclusion: The Japanese GOs were enthusiastic about survivorship care. However, their tendency to deal with survivors’ problems through their own knowledge and judgments raises concerns about the quality of care. Therefore, creating survivorship care guidelines and enhancing multidisciplinary collaboration should be prioritized.