The 100th Asan Medical Center Cardiology Training Program (ACT) was held, led by the Asan Medical Center Heart Institute, jointly with the CardioVascular Research Foundation. The ACT is a three-day-and-four-night educational program for specialists in which AMC’s medical professionals share the recent trend of treatment and transfer know-how to 10 to 15 participants every month through live demonstrations and lectures on cardiovascular intervention. From 2009 to April 2017, a total of 1,131 medical professionals from 33 countries such as Japan, Australia, Singapore, China, and Hong Kong participated in this program and learned how to perform cardiovascular stenting, making the ACT a representative cardiology training program in the Asia-Pacific region.

The participants are from Korea (293), China (206), India (186), Japan (159), Malaysia (41), Hong Kong (33), Thailand (32), Singapore (15), and the UAE (1). A number of medical professionals from Japan, a medically advanced country, continue to participate in the ACT, which demonstrates that the ACT has high-quality educational content and excellent curricula. The major courses are the Left Main Intensive Course, FFR- and IVUS-Guided PCI, CTO Live from the Experts, and TAVI Live. A course providing live demonstrations of world-class heart surgeries performed in the atrium in the angiocardiography room and discussions is also popular.

Other than the regular three-day-and-four-night program, one-day or two-day subprograms were held at the 31st ACT at the participants’ requests. Subprograms included specialized sessions for CTO, TAVI, BVS, and imaging and customized sessions for nurses. The subprograms have been attended by 423 professionals from eight countries—Korea (226), Japan (105), China (18), Thailand (13), Taiwan (12), Indonesia (4), the Philippines (4), and Australia (1).

The AMC Heart Institute verified for the first time that stenting is safe in treating left main coronary artery disease, which has been treated with surgery only, and has led a domestic and international paradigm of cardiovascular intervention for the last two decades by performing stenting on selected patients through FFR. The Heart Institute established itself as a global educational institution in the Asia-Pacific region by holding the CardioVascular Summit TCTAP, attended by more than 4,000 cardiologists from 40 countries in cooperation with the CardioVascular Research Foundation as well as international symposia, including AP VALVES and Complex PCI, for the last 22 years.

Dr. Anand Gnanaraj at the Madras Medical Group Clinic of India said, “The ACT offers a highly intensive program for a few participants. What differentiates this program from others is that participants can learn practical knowledge and skills useful in clinical settings and have discussions.”

Japanese cardiologist Risa Takahashi said, “I was impressed that AMC measured the exact condition of a patient’s coronary artery through FFR to select patients suitable for stenting. This represents Korea’s high standard of medical skills.”

Dr. Wang Yuchen at the China Medical University Hospital of Taiwan said, “Most programs provide lectures, but the ACT gives an opportunity for participants to observe the surgery performed by Professor Park Seung-jung, who is a renowned physician.”

Professor Park Seung-jung of the Department of Cardiology said, “The ACT has appealed greatly to foreign medical professionals for the last eight years by offering unique professional educational programs on cardiovascular intervention through live demonstrations, case presentations, and topic-specific lectures. We will further develop various educational programs to improve the competency of cardiology experts and maintain our reputation as a global educational institution by helping participants learn the know-how on treatment.”

The 100th Asan Medical Center Cardiology Training program (ACT) was held, led by the Asan Medical Center Heart Institute, jointly with the CardioVascular Research Foundation. The photo shows Professor Park Seung-ung (center) cutting a celebration cake with the program participants.

Professor Park Seung-jung gives a lecture on cardiovascular intervention for foreign medical professionals participating in the 100th ACT at the atrium in the angiocardiography room (3F, East Building).