THORACIC ENDOSCOPY UNIT

Dr Jamalul Azizi and his then specialist Dr Kunji Kannan created history when they organised the first National Interventional Bronchoscopy Course in Malaysia in September 2007 which generated a huge interest in this field. The second course was held in Kuantan, Pahang on 16-17 July 2008.

Dr Jamalul Azizi established the first interventional bronchoscopy service in Malaysia at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in May 2008 after he returned from Marseille, France where he trained under Dr Herve' Dutau in October 2007. This service was achieved following a successful meeting with the hospital director and the anaesthesiology department on March 2008. In July 2008, two specialists Dr Tie Siew Teck and Dr Wong Jyi Lin joined the respiratory department. In December 2008, senior lecturer and consultant respiratory physician from UKM Medical Centre Associate Prof Dr Fauzi Md Anshar spent four weeks with us to do rigid/interventional bronchoscopy.

The thoracic endoscopy unit now performs pleuroscopy (including talc poudrage), endoluminal debulking, argon plasma coagulation (APC), cryotherapy, transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), autofluorescence bronchoscopy, YAP laser, airway stenting, rigid dilatation and mitomycin C application via rigid bronchoscope.

Last year, the third National Interventional Pulmonology course returned to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on 10-12 October. The full story and pictures are available on our official site. This year, we will organise a TBNA/EBUS/RIGID BRONCHOSCOPY workshop on June 24.

Of note, we received a surprise visit by Dr Richard Sue, American interventional pulmonologist from Arizona, Phoenix in September last year. Richard was keen to form an international collaboration with us. We also performed a case of rigid bronchoscopy with him during his visit.

Discussion is underway to form a special interest group (SIG) of interventional pulmonologists in Malaysia. Tentatively, it will be named the Malaysian Co-operative Group for Interventional Pulmonology (MCGIP). The name was Associate Prof Dr Fauzi Md Anshar's brainchild during his stint with the respiratory department. The existence of SIG will lay the foundation for collaboration in interventional pulmonology, research and training.

Dr Richard Sue (left) with our team after finishing a case of rigid bronchoscopy in the operating theatre