Japan Opens First Center for Asbestos Diseases

August 24, 2006 - The Hyogo College of Medicine in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, has announced that Japan’s first medical center dedicated to the research of mesothelioma – asbestos-related cancer – will open this fall.

According to an article in the Daily Yomiuri, the center will study the mechanism of the disease's development and try to develop preventive measures and remedies. 

Hyogo College is located near the former Kubota Corporation plant.  Many workers at Kubota, as well as members of the community who made their homes near the plant, have developed asbestos-related diseases and have been treated by doctors at the medical center, so Hyogo seemed the ideal location for the new research center.  The college currently treats about 100 mesothelioma patients per year. 

Prof. Koji Nakano, 55, a specialist in respiratory tract diseases, has been chosen to head up the team of four additional doctors, who will provide consultations and treatment. A social worker will be on-hand to advise sufferers about workers' compensation insurance and about the particulars of a new law for sufferers of asbestos-related diseases.

“As people who come in contact with asbestos do not always develop symptoms of mesothelioma, the center staff will examine characteristics of the disease on a genetic level and use the data to help diagnose the disease in its early stages during medical checkups,” noted a spokesperson for Hyogo Medical Center.

In addition to providing surgical procedures and radiation therapy, doctors and research scientists at the center will try to develop new medicines for the disease in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies.

According to a Hyogo College of Medicine spokesman, about 1,000 deaths in Japan were linked to mesothelioma in 2004. However, the number is expected to exceed 2,000 around 2014 and continue to increase until around 2030.