The 4th Annual meeting of the Korean Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (KSTU) was held at Jeju National University Hospital September14-15, 2018. The successful meeting marked the first official exchange program between KSTU and the Japanese Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (JSTU), following cross participation of scholars last year at the KSTU and JSTU conferences.
Four speakers were invited from JSTU, including a plenary lecturer, Professor Katsuro Tachibana, from the department of anatomy at Fukuoka University. In addition, two members from Taiwan Association of Interventional and Therapeutic Ultrasound (TAITU) planned to join to give a talk but one could not attend due unforeseen circumstances.
With approximately 100 registered attendees, the program included 16 invited talks over the course of four sessions. Five of the international speakers were from Japan and Taiwan. The first session, “Therapeutic Ultrasound in New Clinical Treatments,” featured lectures on cancer immunotherapy, cell reprogramming for neurological therapy, and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for localized prostate cancer. The second, international, session showcased the presidents of KSTU (Prof. Jin Woo Chang) and JSTU (Prof. Katsuro Tachibana) and well-known Taiwan scholar, Prof. Hao-Li Liu. The topics were focused ultrasound for brain disorders, next generation of ultrasound theranostic nanobubbles, and theranostic ultrasound brain drug delivery, respectively.
The general assembly closed by electing Prof. Min Joo Choi as the new KSTU president, following Prof. Jin-Woo Chang’s tenure as the first president with four years of service. The day concluded with a wonderful dinner for the board members and invited speakers, who continued to discuss the future of the exchange program.
The last day of the program featured six invited talks on “New Horizons in Therapeutic Ultrasound” and six presentations on updates in therapeutic ultrasound research.
The 4th Annual Meeting of the KSTU was supported by six local companies. The exchange program between KSTU and JSTU was supported by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Several vendors displayed their products at booths, including Alpinion and Dymstech.
Report submitted by Dong-Guk Paeng, PhD