APSR Short-Term Research/Training Scholarship

Learning about cough was the main purpose throughout my training project. I hope that I could obtain more knowledge and skills to take care of Vietnamese patients with cough.

Figure 1

I was very lucky and honoured to become an international fellow under the supervision of Professor Yoon-Seok Chang at Asthma and Allergy department of the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) (figure 1). I successfully finished the short-term training with the support from SNUBH and the APSR scholarship. I have learned many things associated with cough, as follows:

Figure 2

Firstly, I got more knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for chronic cough patients. Determining underlying etiologies of chronic cough from both upper and lower airways (common causes including allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, cough variant asthma, and eosinophilic bronchitis) shows an important role. As a pulmonologist, I only have a little bit of experience in diagnosis of upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), an interesting issue noticed from my supervisor. I learned about chronic cough via many cases at the outpatient clinic of SNUBH, in which we discussed definitive diagnosis and treatment for each patient. I also had several seminars at which I presented topics such as allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, methacholine bronchial provocation test (MBPT) (figure 2), using antihistamine in UACS.

Figure 3

Secondly, I learned about useful tests in determining the cause of chronic cough. Among of them, analysis of induced sputum and MBPT may be the most interesting. Although two types of test were conducted worldwide a long time ago, they have not been available or seldom done in Vietnam. Figure 3 shows me together with two kind technicians performing the analysis of induced sputum at the laboratory room. This test usually takes two stages: (1)  induction with hyper saline (NaCl 3%) to collect sputum and (2)  handling and analyzing the sputum specimen. Therefore, the test consumes so much time that it is only indicated in the medical research because of its validity in identifying eosinophilic inflammation (% eosin in sputum >3%). In current clinical practice in the Republic of Korea, the FeNO is used as a surrogate in evaluating airway eosinophilic inflammation. To MBPT, I studied and observed the conducting protocol via many cases in which the technician used one of two methods: a method with activated breathing via dosimeter, and a method with two-minute tidal breathing via nebulizer.

Thirdly, I have taken part in chronic cough research. My supervisor is a famous allergist and helped me to have a new insight about the correlation between allergic condition and chronic cough, a terminology of "allergic respiratory diseases". I have been attending a study protocol about this topic which will be conducted in the Republic of Korea by my supervisor and professor Soon-Haen Kim. Moreover, I believe that the first requirement to conduct further cough research is an objective tool to evaluate patient with cough. With my supervisor's suggestion, I have been conducting a study to translate the Leicester Cough Questionnaire from English to Vietnamese. With these researches, I could get not only more research skills but also knowledge to take care of patients effectively.Although three months is not long enough to make a person become a specialist in chronic cough, I think this is the basic step to develop in future. I ascertain that the role of professor Yoon-Soek Chang as my dedicated supervisor will not end with this training but continue forever afterwards.

In conclusion, I would like to thank professor Yoon-Seok Chang, a kind teacher always facilitating for me to learn the best, and his working team at SNUBH. I also thank the secretary and the APSR Education Committee who gave me a scholarship with the wonderful study opportunity. I am very grateful my home supervisors including Prof. Tran Van Ngoc, Prof. Le Thi Tuyet Lan, Dr Nguyen Nhu Vinh and Dr Le Thuong Vu, who supported me to join this course.