title: [Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Esophageal Cancer: clinical efficacy and impact].
abstract: We report our findings on the clinical efficacy and impact of using the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Esophageal Cancer after inquiry-based research involving the council members of the Japan Esophageal Society. The majority of the 145 respondents were esophageal surgeons with more than 20 years' experience at university hospitals or major clinical centers throughout Japan. They generally treated esophageal cancer following the guidelines. Although each surgeon makes his or her own judgment in each case, they reported that they experienced less stress when using the guidelines, or more stress when using non-standard treatment deviating from the guidelines. A key finding was that the guidelines were overly complex and difficult to understand concerning informed consent, especially by patients. Only one-half of the respondents followed the guidelines when obtaining informed consent, because they are too difficult and vague for patients to understand. The guidelines should therefore be revised and improved in this aspect.
authors: Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.
authors: Hiromasa
authors: H
authors: Fujita
authors: Tetsuji
authors: T
authors: Tsubuku
authors: Toshiaki
authors: T
authors: Tanaka
authors: Yuichi
authors: Y
authors: Tanaka
authors: Satoru
authors: S
authors: Matono
authors: Kazuo
authors: K
authors: Shirouzu
mesh_terms: D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005762:Gastroenterology; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007564:Japan; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires