Choi at forefront of Korea’s medical imaging development

Choi Byung-ihn

Professor in Department of Radiology,
Chung-Ang University College of Medicine

Choi Byung-ihn has committed himself to developing the field of medical imagining in Korea. His academic focus has been on the application of radiology for liver cancer diagnosis and treatment. In his 40-year career, he published about 500 papers in international scientific journals and gave lectures at more than 460 hospitals and educational institutions abroad.

Steven E. Seltzer, chairman of the radiology department at Harvard Medical School, sent an email in 2016 to radiologist Choi Byung-ihn in Seoul. The purpose of his email was to invite him to be the seventh annual honorary lecturer on “Global Issues in Radiology” at the school-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in September. “I sincerely hope that you can accept our invitation,” Seltzer said in the email. Seltzer’s invitation is an indication of how far Korea has come in the field of medical imaging, the creation of visual representations of the body’s internal parts for medical analysis and intervention. When Seoul National University Hospital adopted computed tomography (CT) 36 years ago, Choi, who was then a full-time instructor at the hospital, struggled significantly with the new machine — and the new era. No one in the whole hospital could help him much.
“For a long time, X-ray was pretty much the only thing used at the radiology department. But from the early 1980s, new technologies started to revolutionize the field,” Choi, who now serves as a clinical chair professor at Chung-Ang University Hospital, said in an interview. “I had to learn from scratch, and as an instructor, I had to do so faster than my students.” It was when radiology was evolving quickly with new technologies, which provided doctors less invasive and more effective ways to look into the body. In addition to CT, other technologies such as angiography opened windows to more internal organs; less invasive treatment methods such as biliary drainage using fluoroscopy were also adopted, requiring radiologists to catch up.
“English textbooks were the only thing I could rely on,” Choi said. “I read them and practiced a new procedure hundreds of times in my head before performing it on a patient.” Applying theory to practice was certainly challenging. “The first one year in the hospital after finishing my military service was the toughest period of my career,” he said. “I was always under great pressure.”
For the questions he could not answer himself, Choi sent letter via air mail to Joseph Ferrucci, a textbook author and a renowned radiologist at MGH at that time. “I was desperate. I think Ferrucci probably noticed that he was my only hope. He was very responsive, but it still took about four weeks to receive his reply,” he said. “On the positive side, however, the whole situation made me sharp. I learned fast and did not forget what I learned from Ferrucci. His answers were imprinted in my brain.” After finishing his doctorate in radiology, Choi moved to the University of California, San Francisco, in 1985, where he trained under Roy A. Filly. “He was just seven years older than me, but his knowledge and credentials were overwhelming, which motivated me a lot. He helped me grow not only as a radiologist but also as a medical researcher. He was my mentor,” Choi said. He took his career one step further after receiving training from Yuji Itai, a former professor at the University of Tokyo. The renowned radiologist who called himself a cosmopolitan helped Choi broaden his perspective and build a network with world-class radiologists. With the help of the global network, Choi has committed himself to developing the field of medical imaging in Korea and beyond. His academic focus has been on the application of radiology for liver cancer diagnosis and treatment. In his almost 40-year career, he has published more than 420 papers in international scientific journals and has delivered lectures at more than 370 hospitals and educational institutions abroad. Meanwhile, he served as head of many local and international organizations, including the Asian Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (2004-2007), Korean Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (2005-2006), the Korean Society of Radiology (2005-2008), the Asian Oceanian Society of Radiology (AOSR) (2010-2012) and the Asian Society of Abdominal Radiology (2011-2013). He is also an honorary member of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the European Congress of Radiology, the world’s two largest organizations for the field.

Asia as one big medical team
According to the RSNA, the largest international organization for radiologists with more than 54,000 members across the globe, Korea published more papers in its journal Radiology than any other country except for the United States from 2010 to 2014.
With the U.S. (676) far ahead of the pack, Korea (177) ranked second, above Germany, Japan and France. Moreover, when it comes to the acceptance rate, Korea was only behind the U.S. “Over the past three decades, Korea has made tremendous progress in the field of medical imaging. Now the pressing question is, ‘How do we improve from here?’ I think the answer is more cooperation, especially with countries in Asia,” Choi said. “Asia was long ignored in major international academic societies, in which regional support is critical. Nations from Europe and North America help other countries from the same region and together exert enormous influence on the global stage.”
Without such cooperation, he noted, it would be hard for any Asian country to grow into a leader in any global organization. This is the issue Japan has long dealt with, being the only big player from Asia. “But times are changing,” he said. “I believe Korea has reached the point where it has to play a bigger role in helping other countries in the region, which is important not only for humanitarian reasons but for the further development of Korea and the whole of Asia.” In 2010, Seoul became the location of the AOSR’s executive office. This is the achievement Choi feels most proud of. “We can play a leading role in making the positive change,” he said. In 2012, when he was still head of the AOSR, Choi created the Asia Oceania School of Radiology to train radiologists in Asian countries. Since 2014, he has directed education programs for them. He has also run ultrasound update training courses through the JW Lee Center for Global Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, which was established in 2012 to help sick and underprivileged people in developing countries. “Education is the job Korea can do better than any other country in the world. Korea has coped with many kinds of issues as a developing country until only a few decades ago. They need our advice and we understand their situation well,” Choi said. “Through different channels, I will continue to expand education programs for doctors in such countries.”