Samsung Seoul Hospital Achieves 3,000 Cases of Brain Tumor Surgery Using Endoscopy, the Highest in Korea

Medical staff at Samsung Seoul Hospital Brain Tumor Center are performing brain tumor surgery using an endoscope.
[Photo by Samsung Seoul Hospital]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Brain Tumor Center at Samsung Medical Center (Neurosurgery Nam Do-hyun and Gong Doo-sik, Radiology Lee Won-jae, Otolaryngology Professors Hong Sang-deok and Ryu Gwang-hee) announced on the 25th that it has achieved 3,000 cases of brain tumor surgeries using endoscopy, the highest number in Korea.

Samsung Medical Center successfully performed Korea's first endoscopic pituitary tumor surgery in 1994 and began full-scale brain tumor surgeries using nasal endoscopy in 2009. This achievement of 3,000 cases is a milestone reached 13 years after 1,000 cases in 2016 and 2,000 cases in 2019.

Endoscopic brain tumor surgery is a method that removes brain tumors effectively while minimizing damage to normal brain tissue by inserting an endoscope and microsurgical instruments through the patient's nostrils or eyelid incisions without making external wounds.

Samsung Medical Center has actively incorporated endoscopic techniques, which were occasionally used in conventional brain tumor removal surgeries, into brain tumor surgeries, effectively removing brain tumors without craniotomy using endoscopy.

Endoscopic brain tumor surgery is performed in a very narrow space and involves various techniques and instruments, requiring skilled medical staff and a smooth collaborative system among multiple medical departments.

Professor Gong Doo-sik said, "The active progress of endoscopic brain surgery was possible thanks to the enthusiastic support of all medical staff at the Brain Tumor Center and the active collaborative surgeries with the Otolaryngology department to minimize complications," adding, "We will continue to strive to contribute to patient healing and rapid recovery."