CIRSE at the 2024 APSCVIR Outreach Programme

Dr. Jurgen Runge, EBIR

Some of the 2024 Outreach Programme Faculty

At the maternity hospital in Ulaanbaatar.

The 2024 outreach programme consisted of three full days on (1) general updates in IR, (2) obstetric and gynaecological IR, and (3) paediatric IR, with speakers from the Asian Pacific region itself (APSCVIR members) as well the representatives from SIR (prof. Anne Roberts from San Diego), from CIRSE (myself) and local speakers from Mongolia. We had the opportunity to visit three different public and private hospitals in Ulaanbaatar—the capital of Mongolia that, at 1.3 million inhabitants, harbours nearly half of the country’s population—and were greatly impressed by the general state of the hospitals, the equipment, the materials and the skillset of the Mongolian IRs.

Working in a diverse faculty—with members from the USA, the Netherlands, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong—was a great experience. It allowed me to not only teach the attendants a thing or two about vascular anomalies, paediatric tumour biopsies, nephro-urological PIR, renovascular hypertension, and conebeam-CT C-arm guided liver ablations, but also to learn from the other faculty members.

For instance, Luke Toh from Singapore spoke passionately about transvaginal IR procedures, paediatric vascular access, and the role of IR in paediatric blunt trauma. Anne Roberts from the USA gave several lectures in the realm of women’s IR, including talks on postpartum haemorrhage and complications, fibroid embolization, fallopian tube recanalization, and pelvic venous abnormalities. APSCVIR members Yasuaki Arai (Japan), Rickie Cheng (Hong Kong), Tay Kiang Hiong (Singapore) and Gerard Goh (Australia), spoke on diverse topics including hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC), embolic agents, peripheral vascular disease, geniculate artery embolization, and IVC filters.

With Prof. D. Gonchigsuren, president of the Mongolian Society of Radiology.

Experiencing Mongolian culture and hospitality.

Horseback riding!

However, what impressed me most were the hospitality and generosity of our Mongolian hosts—thank you Ebu and Tuulga!— and the aspiration to improve that I saw in the Mongolian IR’s and radiology residents who attended the outreach programme. As the residency programmes in Mongolia are two years long, a fair bit shorter than in most European countries, it’s clear that there is a lot of post-graduate, on-the-job training. I sincerely hope that our enthusiasm and low-key, approachable manner (well, we tried!) will make reaching out to us for advice on specific clinical cases just that much easier for the IR community in Mongolia.

Of course, a visit to Ulaanbataar isn’t complete without a stroll through the Genghis Kahn Museum, a beautiful and very modern museum that tells the story of Mongolia and its bygone leaders. It was amazing and humbling to realize what vast areas of land were once controlled by the Mongolian Empire, from the Sea of Japan in the East to central Europe in the West.

Given that the Mongolians are renowned for their horse-riding skills, obviously, we had to try for ourselves. On the fourth day of the programme, which was just for residents, we mixed work with pleasure, as we attended the Mongol Culture Park in the morning and enjoyed horse and camel riding, a Nomadic lifestyle show, life in a Yurt as well as traditional Mongolian folk music. We finished the day and the outreach programme with a great dinner, pub quizzes, and dancing.

Attending the APSCVIR Outreach Programme and meeting people from a part of the world I knew little about opened my eyes, and I will definitely think of attending conferences in the Asian Pacific region. Lastly, many thanks to the board members for inviting me to represent CIRSE! For those CIRSE members who may get an invitation to the next Outreach programme, I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

Another view of the maternity hospital.

At the Genghis Kahn Museum. 

Dinner in a yurt with colleagues and new friends.