2nd MRS-APSCVIR IR Workshop

The 2^nd Myanmar Radiological Society (MRS)-APSCVIR Interventional Radiology Workshop was held at Yangon General Hospital from 18^th to 20^th January 2017. This is part of the initiative of outreach programmes to promote and provide education in Interventional Radiology (IR) in the Asia Pacific region where IR is less developed.

Six APSCVIR faculty together with local faculty from Myanmar conducted the workshop, which comprised talks on basic and advanced IR topics and the performance of live cases which were transmitted to the conference room.

The APSCVIR faculty were

1. Dr Yasuaki Arai (National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan)
2. Dr Joseph Kim (Korea University Anam Hospital, Korea)
3. Dr Je Hwan Won (Ajou University School of Medicine, Korea)
4. Dr Rickie Cheng (Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong)
5. Dr Masashi Shimohira (Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Japan)
6. Dr Tan Bien Soo (Singapore General Hospital, Singapore)

The local faculty included Drs Kyaw Zaya, Aung Htet, Saw Aung Phyo Aye, Thazin Than, Tin Htun Aung. Dr Lin Tun Tun, President of the MRS opened the workshop and Dr Kyaw Zaya shared with the participants the challenges as well as the progress made in IR in Myanmar.

The workshop lectures ranged from basic topics like biopsies and drainages to more advanced topics like aortic stent grafts. New topics to introduce patient safety and research in IR were also presented. The live cases included hepatic chemoembolization, angioplasty and fallopian tube recanalization.

We would like to acknowledge the APSCVIR  faculty for volunteering their time and sourcing their own funding for both travel and accommodation. Our hosts from Myanmar were extremely gracious and hospitable and took care of all the faculty’s needs during our stay in Yangon. The faculty unanimously agreed that this was a very meaningful initiative and many are keen to continue their contributions to this APSCVIR outreach programme.