[Clinical pathways in the treatment of cancers]

At the beginning, a clinical pathway was first introduced for the purpose of standardizing the treatment, providing high quality management and shortening hospital stays in the managed care health system in USA. This has been rapidly accepted also in Japan. The clinical pathway has also been gradually introduced in the treatment of malignant diseases, including chemo/radiotherapy and surgery. In Kurume University Hospital, clinical pathways are now applied for 50% of inpatients, and those for cancer patients have a large role in routine clinical practice. The progress of our pathways for cancer patients is here reported.