"Still, Surgeries for Patients Must Go On"... Busan Centum General Hospital, Local Secondary Hospital Struggles

Centum General Hospital Hepatobiliary-Pancreatic Surgery Department Achieves Over 100 Cases in July

Includes Successful High-Difficulty Liver Resection in 70% of Stage 4 Liver Cancer Patients

Director Park Kwangmin and Medical Staff ... Dedication to Care Despite Fatigue

The Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at Centum General Hospital in Busan successfully performed over 100 surgeries in July alone, once again proving its capabilities as a secondary general hospital in the region.

Centum Medical Foundation Centum General Hospital (Chairman Park Jongho, Director Park Namcheol) reported that its hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery team performed 106 surgeries in July.

Centum General Hospital Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Director of Medical Affairs Kwangmin Park (right) and his team performing surgery.

Approximately 30% of these patients were admitted through the emergency room, and 15 cases involved cancer surgery. Notably, a significant number of patients came from regions outside of Busan.

This achievement is partly due to an increase in patients seeking care at secondary general hospitals, as university hospitals continue to experience prolonged disruptions from the mass resignation of residents. However, another key factor was the growing reputation of the medical staff, including Medical Director Park Kwangmin, a former chief of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, and department heads Lee Sanghyeop and Noh Younghun.

"It is a very difficult situation, but surgery must go on,"

Medical Director Park Kwangmin shared his thoughts after achieving over 100 surgeries in a single month.

One of the most notable cases was the successful surgery on patient A, a man in his late 50s with stage 4 liver cancer caused by hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis.

This patient arrived at the emergency room with pain in the right upper abdomen. CT and MRI scans revealed a 15 cm liver tumor occupying the entire right lobe. Furthermore, the patient’s liver stiffness measured 41 kPa, which is extremely high, indicating a high risk of postoperative complications. However, without surgery, the chances of survival were very low. A liver stiffness above 12.5 kPa indicates severe cirrhosis.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Medical Director Park Kwangmin, the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery team, and the patient agreed to do their utmost, even at the risk of the worst-case scenario, and decided to proceed with surgery. The operation involved first performing a liver incision and then using a "retrospective Gleason approach" to completely remove the right lobe of the liver.

Afterward, the remaining left lobe accounted for only 25-30% of the total liver, meaning over 70% of the liver was successfully resected. Park Kwangmin’s team worked closely with anesthesiology specialists to minimize "ischemia-reperfusion" injury, and by the third day after surgery, the patient’s liver function had returned to normal. The patient is currently recovering in the ward and is expected to be discharged soon.

Amid the prolonged medical crisis, Medical Director Park Kwangmin is seeing a flood of outpatient cases and performing 4-6 surgeries every day. Despite the fatigue and difficulty, he expressed gratitude to the patients who trusted him and decided to undergo surgery.

He said, "Especially in extreme and challenging cases like patient A’s, I feel immense pride and an indescribable thrill as a surgeon when we take on major cancer surgeries and achieve good results. I am deeply concerned that the current medical crisis might discourage younger doctors who want to pursue essential medicine. Nevertheless, surgeries to save patients must continue," he emphasized.