Seoul National University Hospital, hit the record 5,000 cases of pancreatic duodenal resection in Korea

Recently, Pancreatic and Biliary Cancer Center at Seoul National University Hospital has reached 5,000 operations. For this, Professors Jinyoung Jang, Wooil Kwon and Hongbeom Kim worked all together. This feat took 59 years after the first pancreatic duodenal resection in Korea in 1961. Also, the surgical results have been excellent. In fact, pancreatic duodenal resection demands a high degree of skills while the risk of complications and death after surgery is very high. Normally, it is considered as an outstanding hospital when the post-operative mortality is between 1 to 2%.For Seoul National University hospital, the mortality rate is merely 0.2%, which is the world-best record and the excellent technique is proven for ‘Pancreatic and Biliary Cancer Center’ at Seoul National University Hospital. Lately, laparoscopic robot surgery has been introduced, which has made it possible to perform more sophisticated operations. The robot surgery is more helpful for the best result when the operation requires more advanced techniques. Early recovery and pain reduction prove that the robot surgery is much more effective than other typical laparotomic surgeries. Seoul National University Hospital was the first case in Korea to have performed pancreatic duodenal resection, gallbladder cancer resection, and cyst excision, using a surgical robot. Academical research related to the robot surgeries is also being conducted consistently. Recently, the center has released an academic paper on tracking and monitoring the patients with old-staged pancreatic cancer. The result of the study was published in a recent issue of ‘Journal of Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Science’ as the value for its improved prognosis was highly recognized. According to the study, the two-year survival rate after typical cancer treatments was 35.1% at most in the case of advanced cancer. On the other hand, it increased by 75.3% when the patients underwent a resection along with the general cancer treatments. In the past, the average survival time for the patients who had advanced pancreatic cancer was 6 to 9 months. The study is expected to be a new hope for the patients whose diagnosis with pancreatic cancer used to be considered as a death sentence. Professor Jinyoung Jang said, “We were able to achieve this feat thanks to our rich experience and the research accumulated for a long time. We do appreciate our predecessors and colleagues’ incredible effort.” Finally, he ended saying, “Our center and I will never stop initiating a research and making consistent effort to find the best treatment of pancreatic cancer and pancreatic biliary tract tumors.'