The Third Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (JASCC) was held in Fukuoka City, Japan from August 31 to September 1, 2018. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Evidence-based supportive care to establish the integration of oncology with supportive and palliative care.” Designed to help JASCC establish evidence-based approaches to cancer treatment, the meeting provided a venue for discussions and collaborations aimed at improving the quality of medical care. Areas of particular emphasis were oral care for prevention and treatment of oral mucositis secondary to cancer therapy, pathogenesis of cancer cachexia syndrome (CCS), and precision medicine. Other topics included patient-reported outcomes, integration of oncology and palliative care, advance care planning, CINV, febrile neutropenia, and other problems related to cancer and its therapies. The conference also featured a guideline consensus meeting, a JASCC-MASCC Joint Symposium, and a JASCC-JAOSCC Joint Symposium.
Annual Meeting President Kazuo Tamura, MD, PhD, also President of JASCC, is a member of MASCC’s Board of Directors and is a member of MASCC’s Study Groups on Antiemetics and Neutropenia, Infection & Myelosuppression. Other MASCC and ISOO members who participated in the meeting included Drs. Matti Aapro, Tateaki Naito, Ian Olver, and Yoshihiko Soga.
Dr. Ian Olver reports that the meeting generated great enthusiasm among participants and that interest in supportive cancer care is growing rapidly in Japan, as well as in Korea and Taiwan. He co-chaired a plenary session with Dr. Tamura, as well as presenting on the topics of psychosocial issues and spiritual well-being. Dr. Aapro addressed other aspects of supportive care research, including the management of anemia and iron deficiency in cancer patients, while Dr. Naito discussed the pathogenesis of cancer cachexia syndrome and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Dr. Soga was among the speakers on oral care. Dr. Tamura and his colleagues were gracious and generous hosts and the meeting culminated in a reception and dinner (see photo). Dr. Olver said that he looks forward to a magnificent joint MASCC/JASCC meeting in Yokohama in 2021.
JASCC was founded in 2015 and has been steadily growing with the support of other cancer-related societies and companies, as well as its members. The Annual Meeting has grown rapidly, too. While 400 delegates attended the first Annual Meeting in 2016, this year’s attendees totaled more than 1,000. The association maintains Study Groups in several specialty areas, and these, like MASCC’s Study Groups, play a central role in JASCC’s activities. Currently, JASCC has seven committees, 17 study groups, and four working groups through which it offers timely information on education, research, and supportive and palliative cancer care. JASCC has published a practice guideline for peripheral neuropathy and will soon publish an atlas and management guide to skin problems associated with anti-cancer drugs. In the near future, JASCC also hopes to provide appropriate guidelines concerning various symptoms of cancer and its treatments, as well as cancer pain.
