Inaugural Address of the 6th Asian Society of Cryosurgery

Ladies and gentlemen, those interested in cryotherapy career ，

Hello to all!

I am Wang Hongwu, the new President of the 6th ASC. I would like to express a warm welcome and sincere thanks to all members on behalf of the new presidium! I appreciate your confidence in me, and I promise to uphold it by leading the Society to greater heights and to the world!

It has been more than 20 years since I started argon-helium cryotherapy practice in 2001. We discovered that Asia is where cryotherapy is making the most progress globally. The distinctive benefits have been noted, especially in light of the extensive use of imaging-guided and bronchoscopic cryoablation. Cryotherapy has helped tens of thousands of people, particularly in China. This has also been made possible by the establishment of ASC.

It has been 12 years since the ASC's preparation meeting on September 4, 2010. The Society was formally created in 2014. We've accomplished a lot in eight years of hard work. From Guangzhou to Beijing to Kuching, the Society has led its members to vigorously support cryotherapy development in Asia, thereby expanding therapy to new ailments and aiding a large number of patients. Our membership has been constantly growing.

In order to register ASC in Hong Kong and begin a new adventure, President Xu Kecheng, the founder of ASC and the president of Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou, China, overcame many obstacles. Prof. Xu Kecheng is a renowned gastroenterologist and cancer specialist in China who has won numerous awards. Like the candidate for the 5th National Moral Model of Dedication, the 4th Guangdong Moral Model, "Model of the Times," "Model of South Guangdong," "Top Ten People who Moved Guangdong," the 18th President of the International Society of Cryosurgery(ISC), and the Honorary President of the Asian Society of Cryosurgery(ASC). At the 16th ISC in November 2011, Prof. Xu Kecheng's book Cryosurgery for Cancer earned the Outstanding Book Award. Six months later, he published Modern Cryosurgery for Cancer in English, which not only met the need for cancer cryotherapy monographs around the world but also helped launch China's cryotherapy career. We should always appreciate and learn from Prof. Xu Kecheng because he was a role model for his period.

Prof. Xiao Yueyong, who is also a PhD supervisor, is the chief of the Department of Radiology at Chinese PLA General Hospital and has worked in diagnostic imaging and interventional therapy for over 40 years. He was the President of the 21st ISC, the first and second Presidents of the ASC, the current Chairman of the Chinese Anticancer Association's Minimally Invasive Therapy in Oncology Committee, and the Chairman of the China Medicine Education Association's（CMEA） Interventional and Minimally Invasive Therapy Committee.He is the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Interventional Imaging and Therapy and a member of the editorial boards of several other journals. He has excellent achievement in CT and MRI guided minimally invasive interventional treatment, like he invented numerous imaging guided surgery methods, and proposed conformal tumor ablation methods and strategies. Prof. Xiao Yueyong wrote the book Ar-He Cryoablation Treatment for Tumor in 2010, which has made significant contributions to the promotion of cryoablation treatment in China. In 2013, he received the Special Contribution Award and the Lifetime Honor Award at the 9th Chinese Academic Conference on Minimally Invasive Therapy in Oncology. Prof. Xiao has dedicated himself to the cause of cancer cryoablation and has made significant contributions to finding the route to the world.

Prof. Li Chengli，also a doctoral supervisor, is the chief of the Department of MRI Interventional Therapy of Shandong Provincial Hospital. He served as the ASC’s 4th and 5th president, executive committee member of the ISC, and chairman of the Shandong Medical Imaging Society's Branch of Minimally Invasive Imaging Therapy. He specializes in MRI-guided practice and has considerable expertise in minimally invasive interventional tumor treatment. In Kuching, Malaysia, four years ago, ASC produced a wonderful moment that we will never forget. To his credit, Prof. Li fought valiantly through the COVID-19 epidemic and insisted on setting up the academic activities.

In addition to holding academic conferences and directing a series of expert consensus publications and monographs, a cryotherapy training system was built; for example, the cryoablation training held in 2019 has substantially contributed to the promotion.

With the evolution of technology, we discovered that, in addition to classic percutaneous cryoablation, endoscopic, particularly tracheoscopic cryotherapy procedures emerged rapidly. Following thorough conversations, we hope that this group of cryotherapy practitioners would also join ASC and promote our common cause.

Following recruiting, a total of *** practitioners who specialize in conditions such as gynecology- and dermatology-related illnesses, percutaneous lung puncture cryotherapy, and other organs have joined our group. We have members all around Asia, including doctors who specialize in cryotherapy in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan. In addition, a sizable portion of the membership, including medical professionals from hospitals around China, is present. For the first time, we include researchers, relevant equipment makers or distributors as corporate members, in addition to clinical practitioners. The innovative organizational structure gives us benefits to launch academic initiatives in the future to advance cryotherapy research.

Inaugural Address of the 6th Asian Society of Cryosurgery 

The primary mission of the 6th ASC is to promote the sinking of technology and personnel while also widening its radiation. These are the specific tasks:

1. Create collaboration and technical training centers with hospitals from other nations.

2. Initiate prospective multicenter studies.

3. Encourage the publication of professional consensus and guidelines.

4. Increase public awareness of cryotherapy by increasing publicity.

5. Increase academic exchange by holding an Asia-wide conference at least once a year and taking into account progress in many disciplines.

The assistance and engagement of businesses is critical in this process. We will establish strategic cooperation to foster more mature and healthy synergistic development of medicine, industry, and trade, so that patients benefit the most.         

We shall keep in mind our initial goals and work for a better future!