MY DOCTOR, IK JANG MD OF MGH. NO BS, NO SMALL TALK JUST SAVING LIVES

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jeffrey Newman

I want to tell you about my doctor Ik-Kyung Jang MD, PhD, otherwise known as “IK” to those around him at the Massachusetts General Hospital. I call him Dr. Jang when I see him. IK’s a pretty interesting guy to me. You ever meet someone who you know immediately knows what they are doing, even before they say anything to you? Thatt’s IK. I first met him five years ago, when I was flat on my back at the MGH cath lab, about to undergo a cardiac catheterization. While on the treadmill at the gym , a day earlier, I felt a funny sort of indigestion in my chest. I thought it might be the breakfast I had but when I put the treadmill up a notch the feeling got worse. When I put it down, it felt a little better. Even I could figure that one out. Up pain down no pain. I’ve got angina! So like an idiot, I drove myself to the hospital where they did some tests and threw me into a room to wait my turn to have a cath and when they were deep in there and found a complete blockage of my descending artery, Ik came over and told me they would be putting in a non drug eluding stent. Ok, I said, let her rip. I watched him in the cath lab, overseeing a resident who looked about 15 and who must have done 15 of these procedures a day. IK was calm watching every move, every change on the monitors and hurrying his assistant when he needed nudging. Never raising his voice though. Unflinching, sober and focused. When the stent was in, he instructed the assistant to close me up and told me the procedure was successful and he was off.

It turns out that IK is a pretty amazing fellow and that I am damned lucky to be his patient. He was the first doctor to use optical coherence tomography (OCT) in a clinical study in 2002. This unusual device which uses near-infrared light creates a high resolution image within the artery, 20 times better than standard imaging technologies like computer tomography. It can identify vulnerable plaques in patients and it also helps to follow up stent patients like me. IK is leading an international clinical study using this technology.

The thing I really like about IK is that he is no bullshit. I saw him this week for a checkup. He swept into the room and sat before the computer screen asking me questions about my exercise routine, about my BP which was up and that I had gained weight–an absolute giveaway in his world. You see Jang sees the most moribund and I can’t help thinking that when he sees me he says to himself silently “what an idiot this guy is. If he could only see what he is doing to himself and where this is leading him. It’s a matter of self control and he has none.” IK doesn’t ask about my family or anything except whether I have felt any pain or discomfort. He is complete and thorough but is out of the examining room in less than five minutes. That’s ok as he has everything he needs from me and the issue at hand. I know a lot has been written about the importance of bedside manner. My daughter, who will one day be a doctor touts this as an important issue. However, I hope that she is also like IK—tough as nails, focused, to the point and calling it like it is. No BS get to the heart of the matter. I know she will. Quite simply—Jang knows the heart and heart disease and IK saves lives. He doesn’t need to small talk me. Not Jang. I would never call him IK to his face. To me he deserves and has earned the mantle of Dr. Jang. My doctor.