Akira Tangoku M.D., Ph.D.
President of the esophageal field of the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery (JATS)
Professor and Chairman
Department of Thoracic, Endocrine Surgery and Oncology,
Institute of Biomedical Sciences,
Tokushima University Graduate School Akira Tangoku
The 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery (JATS) was scheduled to be held at the Nagoya Congress Center from Thursday, October 28th to Sunday November 1st, 2020. It was decided to deliver on the web with concerning the global spread and increasing number of the COVID-19 patients in Japan.
Role of the president was divided in each field, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and esophageal surgery from this scientific meeting. I am proud and honored to have the opportunity to serve as the esophageal field president of this meeting, with its long history and tradition created by our predecessors. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the General president of the JATS, Professor Dr. Akihiko Usui, Chairman of the JATS, Prof. Dr. Yoshiki Sawa and also to all members of the JATS.
“Future Prospectives” is the main theme of the 73rd JATS meeting. As one of the leading countries of the world in the management of esophageal cancer treatment, we have to further improve the treatment outcomes of the disease. On the other hand, we need to make an effort to improve the quality of life (QOL) of patients and their families. We program committee planned the program as more practical for young surgeons to develop their skill and knowledge. The video symposium ”Radical lymph node dissection with preventing postoperative morbidities” and the panel discussion “Treatment strategy for senior patients with esophageal cancer” would introduce best practice. Special program ”Cadaver Surgical Training (CST): Practice and future perspective in cadaver surgical training for esophageal cancer surgery” would serve the opportunity to develop your skill by the real time discussing with the presenter. Those programs are scheduled on October 30th. “Serious case experience conference” is an attractive program for the young surgeons, they could obtain the wide knowledge for difficult cases for diagnosis and treatment. We also prepare “How to diagnose and treat this case”, Video session “Surgical procedures to avoid the complications after esophagectomy” on October 31st.
Video Clinic: Our technique and the other oral presentation can be watched on demand web system. Techno academy is the special program which would present “Technical check points of clinical video for the Board Certified Surgeon in Esophagology applicants”. Please also join the Post Graduate Course which would present practical skills. They are also prepared on demand learning system of this annual meeting HP.
The 32nd Olympic Games were scheduled to be hosted in Tokyo again but it was postponed to next year due to the global COVID-19 spread. Prior 18th Olympic Games were held on October 10th to 24th, 1964. The Japanese Society for Esophageal Diseases(JSED) (the predecessor of the Japanese Esophageal Society: JES) has established on August 1st , 1965. The first meeting of JSED has been held in Tokushima city on October 18th, 1965 during the 18th Annual Scientific Meeting of the JATS which was hosted by Professor Dr. Kikuo Takahashi who was the first chairman of our department. I am hosting the 74th annual meeting of JES, the 55th memorial meeting from the birth on December 10th to 11th in Tokushima city.
We would like to do best to make this scientific meeting fruitful in Nagoya. Lastly, I would greatly appreciate for you all JATS members’ help and truly hope that the JATS 73rd meeting would have a large attendance.
