TOKYO, Jordan, April 21 (UPI) -- The survival rates of cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment at Japanese hospitals depend on the treatment devices the hospitals use.
Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry researchers chose 75 out of 700 hospitals nationwide for the survey, and investigated patients who had received treatment at the institutions between 1995 and 1997, the Mainichi Daily News reported Wednesday.
The use of an intracavitary irradiation device for cervical cancer patients, where metal that emits radiation is inserted into the womb to fight the cancer, impacted patients' survival rates greatly. For advanced stage 3 cancers, the use of this device resulted in a 64 percent survival rate after five years, whereas patients who didn't receive the treatment only had a 23 percent survival rate.
However, the Japanese Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology found only 20 percent of the hospitals that used radiation treatment performed intracavitary irradiation.
Patients who need irradiation treatment are supposed to be referred to institutions that have the procedure, but some hospitals refuse to send patients to other institutions.
