A History of the Korean Society of Thoracic Radiology

The Korean Society of Thoracic Radiology (KSTR) was established in 1988 as a small group of radiologists who were interested in thoracic radiology, led by Dr Jung-Gi Im (Fig. 1). The society was officially founded and registered in 1992 as an affiliated society of the Korean Radiologic Society. Currently, there are about 140 active KSTR members. The main purposes of the KSTR are to promote the development of thoracic radiology through academic communication, research, and education and to foster close fellowship between members. The KSTR is now managed by the 11th president, Chan Sup Park, the secretary general, Jae Woo Song, and 12 executive committee members. The KSTR members actively engage in research and education at medical colleges, universities, and general hospitals and publish their articles in international as well as domestic academic journals. In addition, some members work as editors and reviewers for various academic journals. In particular, the society is quite proud of participating in the activities of the Journal of Thoracic Imaging, its official journal.FIGURE 1.: The fifth president, Sang Jin Kim (left), Dr Benjamin Felson (center), and the first president, Jung-Gi Im (right), at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul during the Korean Congress of Radiology in 1988.The members discuss interesting and instructive cases in a monthly meeting, actively exchange opinions and knowledge with one another, develop new ideas, and consolidate academic cooperation and friendly relations. The feedback from the meetings has been excellent. In addition, the society holds joint conferences with the Korean Society of Cardiovascular Imaging and the Cardiopulmonary Pathology Study Group once a year. To train residents, the KSTR conducts imaging conferences twice a year and offers a radiology course every year. At the end of each year, the society holds an annual symposium in which lectures are given about current knowledge of thoracic radiology, and selected policy tasks are presented. The monthly newsletter contains the minutes from the previous month's meeting, members' news, and essays on various subjects. One of the noteworthy activities of the KSTR is its website program called “Weekly Chest Cases” (http://kstr.radiology.or.kr/weekly/index2.php). As of 1997, this program has enabled the members to post key radiologic images with a brief clinical description of interesting and informative chest cases and has made it possible for people worldwide to apply for the weekly quiz (Fig. 2). As of August 2009, a total of 618 cases have been displayed and archived, encompassing most of the known diseases identifiable by thoracic radiology. The website has become world famous for its unique challenge and feedback system, and also for its high-quality academic contents. More than 207,650 views of the site have occurred during the last 5 years by radiologists from more than 30 countries.FIGURE 2.: Screenshot of the Weekly Chest Cases at the KSTR's homepage.Another major focus for the KSTR is participating in and hosting international conferences. Since its large-scale participation in the Thoracic Imaging 1991 conference held by the Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR) in Toronto, Canada, society members have actively participated in numerous international meetings, including the STR Thoracic Imaging conference (Fig. 3), the Fleischner Society annual meeting, and the World Congress of Thoracic Imaging. At those meetings, a large number of scientific papers have been presented by KSTR members, and many distinguished members have participated as chairpersons and lecturers. The KSTR has actively hosted many international conferences as the society successfully held the Asian-Oceanian Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology conference in Seoul in 1999. The joint meeting of the Korean-Japanese Societies of Thoracic Radiology first started in 2003 in Busan, Korea. Since then, joint meetings have been held in Japan and Korea in alternating years. In 2006, the KSTR took the initiative in organizing the Asian Society of Thoracic Radiology (ASTR), to which the ninth KSTR president, Kyung Soo Lee, was elected as the first chairman of the ASTR. The newly formed ASTR successfully held the first Asian Congress of Thoracic Radiology that year in Seoul (Fig. 4). The society is currently organizing the third World Congress of Thoracic Imaging in Seoul in 2013. There is no doubt that such an event will facilitate productivity and enthusiasm among Korean thoracic radiologists and strengthen the KSTR's international collaborations.FIGURE 3.: KSTR members at the STR Thoracic Imaging 1998 conference in Puerto Rico.FIGURE 4.: The first Asian Congress of Thoracic Radiology welcome reception held in Seoul in 2006.The KSTR has been playing an important role in the domestic development of thoracic radiology and in increasing international communication through the enthusiastic effort of each member. On the basis of these developments, the members of the KSTR hope that the society will continue to promote and contribute to the world's knowledge about thoracic radiology and will grow so much in the next 10 years that it is able to exceed its members' accomplishments of the past 20 years.

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