The 35th Annual Conference of the Japan Society for Low Temperature Medicine titled “The New Era of Cryomedicine,” was held on the 21st-24th of November 2008 at Roppongi Hill in Tokyo, Japan. More than 300 specialists from USA, UK, Russia, Germany, China and Japan attended this meeting. The International Institute of Refrigeration (IRR) was the co-organizer and co-sponsor of the conference.
It was a dignified moment for Fuda Cancer Hospital at Guangzhou when its president, Professor Kecheng Xu was announced as the only Gold Medal recipient for his contribution to the advancement of Low Temperature Medicine. Professor Xu is the first and only non-Japanese recipient of the award since the inception of the society thirty-five years ago. Professor Xu was also awarded the Nikolai Korpan Prize of 100,000 Japanese Yen.
The Japan Society of Low Temperature Medicine was the first of its kind to be established in the world. It has a great influence in the field of cryomedicine. The society covers 17 fields of studies on low temperature medicine with cryotherapy as the most discussed field in recent years. The society organizes annual academic conference with the participation of specialists and academicians worldwide. A gold award is awarded each year during the annual conference based on the decision of a panel of five independent judges by secret ballot.
During the conference, seven working papers of Professor Xu and his co-worker, Dr. Lizhi Niu were admitted with three of the papers to be selected to be reported in the conference. Professor Xu was the fourth speaker during the conference. His topic was “A pilot study on the combination of cryosurgery and 125-iodine seed implantation for treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer." His lively presentation with the use of visual aids drew the attention of the audience. Professor Dr. Nikolia Korpan, a world renowned cryotherapy specialist from Austria evaluated highly of Professor Xu~s paper describing that the combined treatment as “very innovative and provides a new alternative to treatment of the most challenging advanced pancreatic cancer”.
Dr. Lizhi Niu also reported his two papers on “Sequential use of transartery chemoembolization-percutaneous cryosurgery for hepatocellular carcinoma ”and “Cryoablation combined with iodine-125 seed implantation to treat unresectable pulmonary cancer ” on the morning of the first day of the conference.
After the conference, the President of the Japan Society of Low Temperature Medicine, Kou Sueoka, and Honorary President of International Society of Cryosurgery, Sajio Sumida, held a discussion with Professor Xu and Dr. Niu. They informd Prof. Xu and Dr. Niu, “We are paying close attention to your hospital~s achievements in cryotherapy especially in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and central types of lung cancer. Your achievements are a great contribution to low temperature medicine.” Dr. Kou Kseouka hoped that the Keio University where he worked would conduct a joint research on cryotherapy for cancer with Fuda Cancer Hospital-Guangzhou in the near future.
Professor Xu accepting the only Gold Medal from the 2008 35th Annual Conference of Japan Society
of Low Temperature Medicine sponsored by International Society of Cryosurgery