Introduction

ASAN Medical Center (AMC) is the largest medical institution in Korea with a total of 2,700 beds. Having performed 57,000 highly sophisticated surgeries per year, AMC ranks No. 1 in the number of surgeries of thirty(30) major diseases as well as in the number for six(6) most common cancers and organ transplantation. 

As the advanced medical care of AMC has received attention by the international mass media since its opening in 1989, the number of overseas patients from Russia, Japan, China, Mongolia, and the Middle East countries visiting Korea for treatment is continuously increasing. 

The International Healthcare Center (IHC) of AMC is doing its best to offer optimal treatment to each international patient.

AMC’s Strengths

Leader in organ transplantation – First in the world to succeed in performing living donor liver transplantation(LDLT) and the donor exchange program for adult LDLT – The world’s highest post-operative survival rate 

AMC Cancer Center – suggesting a new model

for customized treatment

– Unrivaled leader in the surgery for nation’s top ten(10) common cancers

– Established Korea’s first multidisciplinary cancer clinic

with cancer specialists in internal medicine, surgery, radiation oncology, and radiology 

World leader in heart disease treatment

– Consisted with the departments of Cardiology, Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery and Vascular Surgery

– Operates world-class immediate admission room, cardiac examination room, operating room, and hybridroom

■ Specialized treatment

Why should you receive organ transplantation in AMC?

Organ transplantation is an operation that replaces the affected organ of a terminally ill patient with a healthy organ of a brain-dead or a living person. Transplantation is performed on a patient who cannot be treated with conventional therapies due to intractable diseases. Transplantation of organs including the solid organs such as the kidney, liver, pancreas, heart, and lungs as well as the tissues such as the cornea, bone marrow, bones, blood vessels, cartilage, amnions, fasciae, and heart valves are possible. After the first successful kidney transplantation in 1969, transplantation of the kidney, cornea, and bone marrow has been performed. Thereafter, the first deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) in 1988 was succeeded by the pancreatic and heart transplantations in 1992 and the lung transplantation in 1996.

AMC’s Liver Transplantation Center laid the foundation stone for DDLTs in Korea and paved the way for raising awareness for brain dead organ donation and transplantation. In May 1992, the center began with the first deceased donor multi-organ transplantation. The center had received global attention as it was the first to perform living donor liver transplantation using a modified right lobe graft in 1999, a dual living donor liver transplantation in 2000, and exchange liver transplantation in 2003. Furthermore, a steady stream of overseas medical professionals from prestigious transplantation centers around the world has been visiting AMC for training.

AMC’s Liver Transplantation Center, with disregard to the number of surgeries, has strengthened its outstanding position in treatment outcomes and survival rates for each type of organ transplantation; all the meanwhile, strengthening its efforts in continuous research and experiments and advanced training programs. The center will strive to concentrate on treatment, research, and training to achieve increased survival rates and better treatment outcomes.

■ Latest Major Medical Achievement

Asan Medical Center, World’s 29th and Korea’s No. 1 in ‘World’s Best Hospitals 2023’ by U.S. Newsweek

Asan Medical Center already has 5 out of 11 clinical specialties named among the top 10 hospitals in the ‘World’s Best Specialized Hospitals 2023’ ranking, released in the second half of last year. Asan Medical Center ranked world’s No. 3 in endocrinology, No. 4 in urology, No. 6 in gastroenterology, No. 7 in cancer, and No. 9 in neurology. In addition to the world’s top 10 clinical specialties, Asan Medical Center has been ranked world’s No. 12 in orthopedics, No. 26 in pulmonology, and No. 39 in cardiology. A total of 7 clinical specialties have been ranked Korea’s No. 1, the most of any Korean hospitals. The results of ‘World’s Best Specialized Hospitals 2024’ will be announced in the year’s second half.

Professor Seung-Il Park, the President of Asan Medical Center, expressed his pride in the recognition, saying, “Asan Medical Center, leading the treatment of serious diseases such as cancer, organ transplantation, and heart diseases, has established itself as a global hospital trusted by patients not only in Korea but also around the world. We will continue to enhance our critical care system to ensure patient safety and provide quality care.”

AMC has been successfully positioned as a quaternary healthcare provider performing more than 70,000 cases of advanced surgeries per year and treating critically ill patients from home and abroad. This has been possible with the all-emergency crisis response system and ‘Asan Global Standard,’ the in-house produced standard guideline for medical services, for patient safety and medical quality improvement. During the last decade, more than 3,200 international physicians from some 90 countries including the U.S., China, and Saudi Arabia have visited AMC to learn advanced medical technology and cutting-edge research systems. AMC is also delivering advanced medical technology to medically underdeveloped countries through the ‘Asan in Asia’ project.