System for thymic disease research and clinical practice in Japan.

Japanese Association for Research of the Thymus (JART) established by emeritus professor Akira Masaoka is a cross-sectional association of physicians and researchers and have worked in clinical and basic research on thymic neoplasms and thymus-related diseases in collaboration with The Japanese Surgical Society (JSS), Japanese Association for Chest Surgery (JACS), Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery (JATS), Japan Lung Cancer Society (JLCS), Japanese Respiratory Society (JRS) and Japanese Association for Respiratory Endoscopy (JARE). JART has performed several clinical trials, and the most important establishment of JART in recent days is the project of the nation-wide retrospective database of thymic epithelial tumors, which contributed to UICC TNM staging. Currently, JART is building the prospective database in collaboration with the Japanese Joint Committee for Lung Cancer Registry (JJCLCR).