Thirty years ago, a baby who faced the brink of death due to congenital biliary atresia and cirrhosis before their first birthday has grown into a 30-year-old member of society after undergoing the first-ever living donor liver transplant conducted domestically.
It has been 30 years since the first living donor liver transplant was performed in the country. On the 16th, the Organ Transplant Center of Asan Medical Center in Seoul announced that the protagonist of the first living donor liver transplant in the country, Lee Ji-won, received a portion of their liver from their father and has grown up healthy. Lee underwent the first living donor liver transplant in the country on Dec. 8, 1994, at Asan Medical Center.
Living donor liver transplantation involves transplanting a portion of a living person's liver, which means that patients do not have to wait for organs from brain-dead donors. There is also no risk of liver damage that may occur during the brain death process. However, it is known that the surgery is more complicated and has a higher risk of complications compared to brain-dead liver transplantation, resulting in lower survival rates.
Asan Medical Center has provided new life through living donor liver transplants to a total of 7,392 individuals, including 7,032 adults and 360 children, to date. This is the highest record in the world.
Asan Medical Center has performed 85% of liver transplants as living donor liver transplants for patients with end-stage liver disease. In the last five years alone, the average number of living donor liver transplants has reached 400 cases per year. The overall survival rate for liver transplants at Asan Medical Center is 98% at one year, 90% at three years, and 89% at ten years, which is higher than in the United States. The survival rate for pediatric living donor liver transplants performed by the medical staff at Asan Medical Center over the past ten years is close to 100%. In the United States, where the history of liver transplantation is more established, the one-year survival rate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center averages 92%.
Considering the absolute shortage of organ donations from brain-dead donors in the West, Asan Medical Center has continuously proposed new surgical methods. It has also conducted the most cases of ABO-incompatible living donor liver transplants in the world, where the blood types of the recipient and donor differ.
Lee Seung-kyu, a chair professor in the Department of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Ulsan University College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, noted, 'The living donor liver transplant that saved a 9-month-old baby in December 1994 has become a meaningful milestone in our liver transplantation journey, and this has allowed us to give new life to over 7,000 patients with end-stage liver disease through living donor liver transplantation.' Professor Lee added, 'Such miracles are thanks to the team of medical professionals in the liver transplant team, who are united by a spirit of challenge and passion to save critically ill patients, and to the patients who live their daily lives with remarkable vitality after surgery.'
Kim Kyung-mo, a professor in the Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Ulsan University College of Medicine and Asan Medical Center, remarked, 'The 30 years reflect not only the dedication and effort of the medical staff but also the relentless efforts of the transplant patients and their families who have trusted us and followed our guidance. The successful lives of transplant patients serve as valuable evidence that will give great hope to children and families who will receive transplants in the future.'