Asan Medical Center celebrates its 10,000 robotic surgeries

Asan Medical Center(AMC) has reached its 10,000th case of robotic surgery.

Since the hospital’s first robotic surgery was performed in 2007, it reached its 1,000th and 5,000th cases

in 2010 and 2014, respectively, after which the hospital added an even more impressive 5,000 cases in just 3 years.

This record seems to have been made possible by the fact that the annual number of robotic surgeries has steadily increased

over the last 5 years, namely 767, 926, 1,173, 1,373, and 1,749 cases in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 respectively.

A total of 11 departments performed robotic surgery from 2007 to 2016.

When the procedure was adopted, most of the robotic surgery was performed in

the Departments of Urology and Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

However, its application has gradually expanded to treat other illnesses as its many advantages have come to light,

such as 3D display, magnification of the surgical site up to 10 times,

anthropomorphic movement to enable delicate operations, and smaller incisions to reduce scars

and pain, which in turn results in greater patient satisfaction and a significantly reduced risk of complications.

A divisional breakdown of the 10,000 robotic surgeries performed at AMC shows that

the largest number of surgeries was in Urology at 5,333, then 1,162 each in Colon and Rectal Surgery and Endocrine Surgery,

followed by 767 in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery and 708 in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Director of the Robotic Surgery Center Professor Kim Song-cheol of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery said,

“I would like to thank the medical staff who rallied together and

AMC management who provided their full support which allowed us to perform 10,000 robotic surgeries.

Robotic surgery has minimal scars and low pain and side effects because it is performed by

making a minimum number of small holes just big enough for the robot’s arms to enter.

We will continue to enhance patient treatment outcomes based on past experiences in performing

robotic surgery and our research capabilities.”

At the same time, the Robotic Training Center, which opened in 2013 to provide training in

highly advanced robotic surgery methods, recently provided its 500th training.

Last year, more than 160 Korean and foreign medical staff visited AMC to receive robotic surgery training,

more than 120 of them from overseas including Australia and Japan.

At the ceremony celebrating 10,000 robotic surgeries held on October 19, (starting at the fifth from the left)

Director of the Robotic Surgery Center Kim Song-cheol,

Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery Professor Kim Jin-cheon,

Director of Clinical Support Park Seung-il,

Head of Outpatient Nursing Team I Kim Myeong-suk,

Director of Planning and Coordination Kim Jong-hyeok, and medical staff pose for a photo together while cutting cake.

17.11.28