A JROD survey: nationwide overview of radiotherapy data from 2015 to 2021

The purpose of this survey was to examine the status of radiotherapy in Japan based on the cases registered in the Japanese Radiation Oncology Database (JROD), from 2015 to 2021, and to provide basic data to help improve the usefulness of the JROD in the future. The study population consisted of patients who underwent radiotherapy between 2014 and 2020 and did not opt out of the study. The survey item data analyzed in this study were entered into the database at each radiotherapy institution by referring to medical records from the preceding year. Our results show that the number of registered radiotherapy institutions and cases increased by ~50% in 2019 compared to those in 2015 (to 113 institutions and 60 575 cases, respectively). Among the survey item categories, the registration rate was lowest for prognostic information (13.9% on average over the 7-year period). In terms of the Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology disease site, the breast; lung, trachea and mediastinum and urogenital sites accounted for >50% of the total cases. The average survival and mortality rates over the 7-year study period were 67.4 and 17.4%, respectively. The X-ray radiotherapy completion rate exceeded 90% for all years and across all disease categories. (192)Ir-based brachytherapy and (223)Ra-based radionuclide therapy accounted for an average of 61.9 and 44.6%, respectively, of all corresponding cases over the 7-year period. In conclusion, this survey enables us to infer the actual status of radiotherapy in Japan based on the analysis of relevant nationwide data.