South Korea’s first living-donor liver transplant recipient has reached her 30th birthday. (Image courtesy of Asan Medical Center in Seoul)
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s first living-donor liver transplant recipient has reached her 30th birthday, three decades after receiving a portion of her father’s liver at just 9 months old.
Asan Medical Center in Seoul announced on December 16 that Lee Ji-won, now 30, has marked the 30th anniversary of her groundbreaking transplant surgery. The procedure, performed on December 8, 1994, involved transplanting a quarter of her father’s liver to save her life as she battled liver cirrhosis caused by congenital biliary atresia.
Lee’s successful transplant became a catalyst for Asan Medical Center’s liver transplant program, which has since performed 7,392 living-donor liver transplants – 7,032 in adults and 360 in children – setting a world record for such procedures.
Living-donor liver transplantation allows patients to receive a portion of a living person’s liver, eliminating the need to wait for deceased donors and reducing the risk of organ damage that can occur during brain death. However, the procedure is technically more challenging than deceased-donor transplants and carries higher risks of complications.
Despite these challenges, Asan Medical Center has chosen to perform 85% of its liver transplants through living donors to save more patients with end-stage liver disease. The hospital has averaged 400 living-donor liver transplants annually over the past five years.
The procedure, performed on December 8, 1994, involved transplanting a quarter of her father’s liver to save her life as she battled liver cirrhosis caused by congenital biliary atresia. (Image courtesy of Asan Medical Center in Seoul)
Despite the risk involved with the procedure, the hospital reports impressive survival rates: 98% after one year, 90% after three years, and 89% after ten years.
The pediatric living-donor transplant outcomes are particularly remarkable, with an analysis showing a 100% one-year survival rate and 98.6% five-year survival rate among 93 pediatric patients who received transplants between 2012 and 2020.
These figures surpass those of established U.S. centers like University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and UCSF Medical Center, which average one-year survival rates or 92%.
In 1998, Dr. Lee Sung-Gyu, the hospital’s chair professor of liver transplantation surgery, developed the modified right lobe liver transplantation technique, which has since become the global standard. He later pioneered dual-donor liver transplantation in March 2000, expanding the potential donor pool.
“That first pediatric transplant in December 1994 became a significant milestone in our liver transplant journey,” Lee said. “These miracles were possible thanks to our dedicated transplant team and the remarkable resilience of our patients.”
Dr. Kim Kyung-Mo, Lee’s pediatric gastroenterologist, added that with proper post-transplant care, recipients can lead healthy lives well beyond 30 years. “Successful cases like this offer tremendous hope to future transplant recipients and their families,” he said.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
