| Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks as the fifth most common cancer related death, being the forth in men and the sixth in women, in Japan. Nearly 30,000 people died of liver cancer each year. The cause of HCC in Japan differs greatly from other countries in the Asia-Pacific regions. Currently, chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is more common than chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Japan has created the world's first nationwide HCC surveillance program. The Japan Society of Hepatology (JSH) began the Eliminate Liver Cancer Program nearly 20 years ago. On the other hand, Japan has a nation health insurance program. This program defines the rate of patients' contribution (10-30%) and the maximum costs per month. For example, screening inspections of HCC with high risk patients are covered by the national health insurance. Although increasing of social security costs due to aging of the population is the one of major politic issue, Japan has been arranged the systems people can easy to access medical institutions and receive medical cares. Besides these situations, a lot of passionate pioneers of hepatologists, radiologists, and surgeons have developed treatments of HCC, such as techniques of surgeries, local ablations, transarterial chemoembolizations, and hepatic arterial chemo infusions. Some of them are peculiar in Japan. In this session, we would like sure the current situations of HCC in Japan and discuss the differences of treatments strategies between the Asia-Pacific regions. |
