J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 126(1): 32-37, 2025

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Feature topic

THE NATURE OF MEDICAL CARE IN PEDIATRIC THORACIC SURGERY IN A REGIONAL AREA IN JAPAN

In Japan, the number of patients and surgical training opportunities in the field of pediatric surgery is expected to decrease due to the declining birthrate. In addition, this field is currently facing wide-ranging issues including the maldistribution of surgeons and patients between urban and regional cities, and the decrease in the number of young doctors aspiring to become surgeons. There is a shortage of pediatric surgeons to perform pediatric thoracic surgery in Japan, and these surgeries are currently performed by thoracic and pediatric surgeons in collaboration. Although the number of pediatric thoracic surgeries is not necessarily decreasing, it is assumed that the number of cases experienced by surgeons in regional cities is decreasing. As video-assisted thoracic surgery and robotic surgery were introduced recently, pediatric thoracic surgeries require advanced surgical and anesthetic skills. Accordingly, it has become difficult to train young surgeons from the viewpoint of safety management. Since it is not realistic to gather pediatric surgeons and patients in large urban cities, it is necessary to train surgeons who can perform high-quality pediatric thoracic surgery in regional cities. For this purpose, thoracic surgeons, pediatric surgeons, and anesthetists should collaborate to establish specialized hospitals in certain regional cross-prefectural areas.

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