Ann Surg Oncol (2014) 21:S345–S347 DOI 10.1245/s10434-014-3755-x

EDITORIAL – GASTROINTESTINAL ONCOLOGY

The JSGS President’s Message: For the Development of the Cooperation Between the JSGS and the SSO Masaki Mori, MD, PhD, FACS Department of Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

On behalf of the members of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS), I (Fig. 1) would like to express my sincere appreciation for the publication of a selection of papers written by members of our society in this supplemental issue of the Annals of Surgical Oncology (ASO). A few years ago, representative members of the Society of the Surgical Oncology (SSO) and the JSGS discussed plans to establish a collaborative relationship between the two societies. The representative members then included Professors Charles M. Balch, Mitchel Posner, Masahiko Watanabe, Masakazu Yamamoto, Yuko Kitagawa, Mitsuru Sasako, and me (Table 1). After a very fruitful discussion, several projects were proposed, which included the following: (1) Publication of a selection of papers presented at the annual meeting of the JSGS in the supplemental issues of the ASO. (2) A joint symposium targeting specific topics to be held alternately at the annual meetings of the SSO and JSGS. (3) An exchange program for young surgeons to be able to foster a healthy transpacific relationship for the future. Almost 3,000 papers have been presented at the annual meetings of the JSGS, which are usually held in July. Through announcements on the JSGS website this year, we encouraged young surgeons presenting papers at our annual meeting to also submit their work for publication in the supplementary issue of the ASO. This led to *200 papers being considered, of which 16 were selected by a peer review process. Each paper was reviewed by three senior academic surgeons (Table 1). Afterward, these selections underwent further review by the ASO office to finalize the

Ó Society of Surgical Oncology 2014 First Received: 15 April 2014; Published Online: 10 May 2014 M. Mori, MD, PhD, FACS e-mail: [email protected]

FIG. 1 The photo of the JSGS President Masaki Mori

papers deemed most worthy of publication in this supplemental issue of the ASO. The papers between them cover almost all areas of gastrointestinal surgery, including the oesophagus, stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, and biliary tract, so I believe that there will be something relevant and enjoyable for all those reading this supplementary issue of the ASO. Let me introduce some papers briefly: (1) Hasegawa et al. demonstrated in his review article on the current difficult situation of the selection of surgical or nonsurgical treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Japan. Of course, it is necessary to perform the randomized controlled trial (RCT) to solve such kind of problem; however, such study is still not so easy to perform in Japan. I hoped the readers would understand not only the content of the paper, but also the background of the Japanese social situation with respect to the RCT. (2) In Japan, gastric cancer is one of the most popular cancers, and a few reconstruction methods are used after the distal gastrectomy. However, it has been difficult to conclude which method is best. Terashima et al. demonstrated the results of the evaluation of reconstruction methods of Billroth-I (BI)

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and Roux-en-Y (RY) after distal gastrectomy through use of the newly established questionnaire system, and revealed the merits and demerits of each method. The results would be interesting for the Western surgeons. (3) The methods or ideas of operation are different among the countries. Kobayashi et al. demonstrated the interesting international comparison of data concerning the quality of surgery for stage III colon cancer among England, Germany, and Japan. It may be interesting for the American surgeons to also compare the data from those of the United States. (4) Nomoto et al. focused on one of the main problems in liver surgery; the risk of recurrence of HCC. They clarified that expression of the thimet oligopeptidase (THOP1) gene in the background liver of HCC is likely to

TABLE 1 List of names of the JSGS representative members President of the JSGS Masaki Mori, MD, PhD, FACS JSGS Scientific Committee Members Masakazu Yamamoto, MD, Chair Akihiko Horiguchi, MD Go Wakabayashi, MD Hirofumi Yamamoto, MD Hiroyuki Konno, MD Hisahiro Matsubara, MD Masanori Terashima, MD Norihiro Kokudo, MD Ryuichiro Doi, MD Tadashi Nishimaki, MD Takeshi Sano, MD Yuji Funayama, MD JSGS Representative Members Masahiko Watanabe, MD Yuko Kitagawa, MD Mitsuru Sasako, MD

FIG. 2 Transitions of the number of JSGS members. The membership reached a plateau in 1998

M. Mori

be a good marker for risk of other HCC development. (5) Pancreatic cancer is gradually increasing in Japan. Nagayoshi et al. tried to clarify the several specific autoantibodies in sera of pancreatic cancer patients by proteomics. Consequently, the calcium and integrin binding 1 (CIB1) protein was identified as a most interesting protein. They are now trying to clarify its significance in the clinical setting. The other papers also include very interesting data that are surely informative for the ASO readers. Also, I hope that you will at the same time gain an insight into what the current ‘‘hot topics’’ are for us in the JSGS. The JSGS was established in 1968, and since then its membership has grown to more than 20,000 people. Our aims are to promote advances in gastrointestinal surgery and encourage more surgeons to provide care in this field, thereby enhancing medical care in parallel with academic achievements, with the ultimate goal being to increase the well-being of the people that we serve. We are striving to achieve the above in part, by encouraging research and training of healthcare employees, as well as members of the society. We have thus far been successful in achieving our aims through much hard work. However, medical care is advancing daily, so it would be impossible to set fixed goals. Instead, our society continues to work toward goals that are considered to be important at the time. Presently, we consider the following issues to be in need of the most improvement: (1) the process of applying for and providing medical compensation, (2) the labour environment, (3) National Clinical Database (NCD), (4) the Board of Medical Specialties system, (5) the role of female physicians, and (6) providing surgical services in an increasingly globalised world. We are addressing the above first three issues in coordination with other societies, while to some extent we can address the above latter three issues on our own. We aim to be both thorough and prompt in our efforts to achieve improvements in each of these areas.

JSGS President’s Message

Our society of course needs the energy of young members to develop further. To ensure that more young doctors pursue a career in gastrointestinal surgery, serious discussion has to occur surrounding their needs, and how these are to be provided. I believe it is important that these discussions involve JSGS, and not just between universities, medical facilities, and other bodies. All the relevant bodies need to work in unison to encourage young people to pursue such a career path, and we need also to create support systems providing them with opportunities for training in the field. Japan’s population pyramid is now shaped like a vase that is thick in the middle. Similar to this phenomenon, the number of young doctors becoming gastroenterological surgeons has recently started to decline (Fig. 2). Unless we find ways to increase the membership of young gastrointestinal surgeons once again, current members will become overworked and will remain unable to achieve their full potential.

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It is no exaggeration to say that Japan’s future depends on advances in science. Our society represents just one field of medical science, but our activities can also serve as a model for the promotion of scientific knowledge and practice in Japan. To make this possible, the organizing committee members and the officers are always thinking of plans and trying to put them into effect. In addition, we need to strengthen ties with other countries, especially in neighbouring parts of Asia and the United States. Two ways we intend to achieve this is by upgrading our website in English, as well as uploading video presentations demonstrating surgical techniques in English. Furthermore, the current collaboration between the JSGS and the SSO will give tremendous boost to the members of the JSGS, and hopefully to the members of the SSO. As the president of the JSGS, I would like to express again my sincere appreciation to the SSO members. I wish a successful future for this collaboration.