Koichi Yamaguchi

I am very honoured to have received the award to attend the APSR Congress 2019 in Hanoi.

I would like to thank all the staff who evaluated me. This time I participated in the APSR Congress with two other young doctors. The APSR Congress was very exciting for young doctors.

I have been studying collagen vascular disease associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) for a long time at Gunma University Hospital. Especially, I’m focused in dermatomyositis (DM) and ILD. I graduated from Gunma University in recognition of clinical research on anti-MDA-5 antibody-positive DM and got a PhD last year. Anti-MDA5 antibody positive DM is often complicated with rapidly progressive ILD (RP-ILD) which has a high mortality rate. Recently, triple therapy comprising corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitor, intravenous cyclophosphamide is known to be effective for RP-ILD.

However, we still don’t know the clinical characteristics of patients under triple therapy. I have seen many of these patients and think I need to report the clinical course.

Currently, I continue to study clinical research at multiple facilities about various types of DM. I think this research is conducted by many colleagues. I would like to thank everyone who cooperated again.

I had a speech at the APSR Congress about the association between anti-MDA5 antibody positive DM patients and the relapse of ILD. There were few reports about the features of relapse patients. There are many patients with DM in my hospital, and I would like to continue to accumulate cases and report them in the future.

I had the opportunity to talk with people from various countries this time. I could also talk about research with young Japanese doctors, which was very exciting. It was an opportunity for me to maintain great motivation. I also felt the need to improve my English skills.

Hanoi was very comfortable with a warm climate. Thanks to the APSR staff, I was able to spend a pleasant time.

Finally, I thank my boss, colleagues, and my wife for supporting my research.

Koichi Yamaguchi

(Click any image to enlarge)

Dr Koichi Yamaguchi and his colleagues