[Present and future of tuberculosis care in regions]

As the incidence of active tuberculosis in Japan declines and the healthcare environment changes, restructuring of the medical care system for tuberculosis is required. According to a questionnaire survey in Hiroshima Prefecture, experiences in tuberculosis (TB) care and knowledge, such as standard treatment and DOT, is insufficient in the local medical institutions designated for tuberculosis care. Regional coordination between the tuberculosis hospital and the regional private practitioners will be one of the important issues in proper TB care. In order to strengthen coordination, Higashi-hiroshima Medical Center (HMC) collaborated with Onomichi Medical Association and the health center having jurisdiction over the area (Tobu Health Center) to create liaison clinical paths for doctors, a booklet for patient education and a medication record named "DOTS note". These liaison paths were provided to the regional practitioner from the health center on discharge and referral from HMC. After the start of regional cooperation, treatment outcome of the cohort of sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis in the region were improved: success; 37.0% to 53.3% (cured; 0% to 40.0%, completed; 37.0% to 13.3%), treatment more than 12 months; 17.4% to 6.7%, died 37.0% to 26.7%. It is considered from experience of the regional cooperation in Hiroshima that regional medical cooperation using liaison paths is helpful to provide proper TB care. Treatment of patients with serious complication(s) is another issue in TB care. For example, only a few TB hospitals can treat the patient who needs hemodialysis, on the other hand, most general hospitals do not treat TB patients, because they have no beds and little knowledge. I think the following measures are effective and necessary for the future TB care: 1) one or more of the general hospitals in each region should provide one or more air-controlled bed(s) to treat TB patients, which can be also used for patients with suspected airborne infectious disease, 2) cooperation between tuberculosis experts and general physicians is necessary to provide standard TB care, 3) Rapid communication between TB experts and regional health centers to provide concrete information such as liaison clinical paths, and finally, 4) government commitment is needed to promote the above measures.