Seoul Asan Medical Center Achieves Milestone with 9,000th Liver Transplant

On May 30, 2025, at 8 AM, four operating rooms at Seoul Asan Medical Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, were simultaneously opened for liver transplants. Two living donor liver transplants were conducted at the same time, with surgeries taking place in two donor rooms and preparations for the recipients in two others. After over 11 hours of surgery, a patient in their 40s suffering from liver cancer and cirrhosis, along with a 70-year-old patient facing life-threatening alcoholic cirrhosis, successfully received portions of liver from their respective nephews.

This operation marked the 8,999th and 9,000th liver transplants performed at Seoul Asan Medical Center, making it the first medical institution in the world to reach this milestone. The hospital stated, "It is rare globally for a single medical institution to perform multiple liver transplants simultaneously. This was made possible due to the high surgical proficiency of our individual medical staff and the sophisticated surgical system supporting them."

Since beginning deceased donor liver transplants in August 1992, Seoul Asan Medical Center has conducted 7,502 living donor liver transplants and 1,498 deceased donor liver transplants. The 9,000th surgery is a significant achievement 32 years and 8 months after the first operation.

Numerous lives have been transformed through these liver transplants. Ji-won Lee (31) received a quarter of her father's liver at the age of 9 months in December 1994 due to congenital biliary atresia, marking the first successful living donor liver transplant in South Korea. She was discharged six months post-surgery and has since become a thriving member of society. Similarly, Sang-jun Lee (74) received a liver from a deceased donor after being diagnosed with terminal cirrhosis in October 1992. He has since celebrated the joy of becoming a grandfather, making him the longest-living liver transplant survivor in South Korea.

The overall survival rates for liver transplants at Seoul Asan Medical Center are impressive, with a 98% survival rate at one year, 90% at three years, and 89% at ten years. In comparison, the average one-year survival rate for liver transplants at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, which have a longer history of liver transplants than South Korea, is around 92%.

Professor Seung-kyu Lee, a leading figure in the liver transplant department at Seoul Asan Medical Center, emphasized that the driving force behind achieving 9,000 liver transplants is the patients. He noted that not only the surgeons but also numerous medical staff across various departments, operating rooms, wards, and the organ transplant center have worked as a 'one team' to ensure the long-term survival and quality of life for patients.