National Clinical Database feedback implementation for quality improvement of cancer treatment in Japan: from good to great through transparency

The National Clinical Database (NCD) of Japan was established in April, 2010 with ten surgical subspecialty societies on the platform of the Japan Surgical Society. Registrations began in 2011 and over 4,000,000 cases from more than 4100 facilities were registered over a 3-year period. The gastroenterological section of the NCD collaborates with the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which shares a similar goal of developing a standardized surgical database for surgical quality improvement, with similar variables for risk adjustment. Risk models of mortality for eight procedures; namely, esophagectomy, partial/total gastrectomy, right hemicolectomy, low anterior resection, hepatectomy, pancreaticoduodenectomy, and surgery for acute diffuse peritonitis, have been established, and feedback reports to participants will be implemented. The outcome measures of this study were 30-day mortality and operative mortality. In this review, we examine the eight risk models, compare the procedural outcomes, outline the feedback reporting, and discuss the future evolution of the NCD.