Organ Transplantation Center Faculty / Medical Staff >

SMC's Organ Transplant Center has adopted a one-stop clinic incorporating highly specialized doctors, coordinators, and nurses to facilitate and optimize patient care before and after transplantation. Our center consists of a liver and small intestine transplant team, a kidney transplant team, hepatocyte transplant team, a pancreas and islet cell transplant team, a heart transplant team, and a lung transplant team. These teams work closely with the transportation support team, coma management team and tissue bank.

Major areas of treatment

  • Kidney transplantation
  • Liver/Liver Cell transplantation
  • Heart transplantation
  • Pancreas/Islet transplantation
  • Lung transplantation
  • Small Bowel transplantation
  • Cornea transplantation

Strengths

The Organ Transplant Center allows a comprehensive approach to organ transplantation:

  • Consultation before organ transplantation
  • Counseling
  • Enrollment on the organ recipient list
  • Outpatient visits after organ transplantation
  • Patient education
  • Drug administration

Additionally, to minimize biliary complications after living donor liver transplantation, we have begun to apply new techniques during biliary anastomosis, which has decreased complications. We also actively engaged in ABO mismatch transplantations and, since then, we have shown a 100% success rate. In 2013, we performed Korea’s first kidney transplantation without the need for immunosuppressors by inducing immunologic tolerance, increasing the patient’s quality of life.

Latest treatment methods

  • Laparoscopic hepatectomy on live liver donors
  • Kidney transplantation with immunologic tolerance
  • Donor clinic

Recent trends in clinical research

  • Identified and analyzed significant genes in hepatocellular carcinomas to discover future targets for chemotherapy
  • Gene studies of type B hepatitis after liver transplantation
  • Immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinomas
  • Clinical trials on hepatocyte transplantation for patients with metabolic liver disorders
  • Organic artificial livers for patients with acute liver failure (extracorporeal circulation treatment using hepatocyte xenograft)
  • Research into liver stem cells to secure new sources for hepatocytes
  • Isolation of porcine islets and research on pancreatic islet cell transplantation
  • Pancreatic islet cell transplantation through isolation of human pancreatic islet cells
  • Research into induction of immunologic tolerance based on kidney transplantation models of primates
  • Research into islet cell transplantation in primates to optimize clinical islet cell transplantation
  • Research using humanized mice

Other resources

Our team is dedicated to assisting other centers around the world with performing transplants. We performed liver transplants at Dar Al Fouad Hospital, Egypt and Hanoi National Children's Hospital, Vietnam and helped these centers start a liver transplant program. Many faculty members from Egypt, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, Mexico, Singapore and the US have visited our center for training and assistance.

Departments List
CLOSE

Patients' Rights and Responsibilities

Patients' Rights

1. Right to receive medical care

Patients have the right to receive proper care in a safe setting without discrimination nor should their right to care be violated regardless of their gender, age, religion, social status, nationality, language, race, or physical/mental/financial status. Medical teams shall not refuse to provide care without justifiable reason.

2. Right to be informed and to make an autonomous decision

Patients have the right to obtain full and complete information from their medical team, to ask questions, and to determine their agreement or refusal concerning: diagnosis, treatment (purpose, plans and methods), outcomes of care (including unanticipated outcomes), discharge plan, participation in medical research studies, organ transplantation/donation, etc. Within ethical boundaries, patients may discontinue or refuse treatment, request that the medical team explain and suggest alternative treatments, and reserve the right to make their own decisions.

3. Right to confidentiality

Patients' rights to confidentiality regarding their physical/health status and privacy will not be violated. Patients can expect that all medical records/reports and their personal privacy will be kept confidential unless the patient has given consent or disclosure is permitted by law. To ensure their privacy, patients may be informed that Individuals not directly involved in their care may not be present and that the number of guardians accompanying patients to consultation rooms may be limited.

4. Right to request consultation and mediation

In the event of a medical dispute, patients may request consultation and mediation from an internal or external agency (Korea Consumer Agency, Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency).

5. Right to have values and beliefs respected

Patients will not be discriminated against because of their culture, religious values, or beliefs, and their rights will not be violated.

6. Right to receive care in a safe setting

Patients have the right to receive hospital-provided care where the patient’s medical information is protected and patient safety can be assured. In addition, patients have the right to be protected from possible dangers that can occur in a hospital and to have stability of mind and body.

Patients' Responsibilities

1. Responsibility to trust and respect the medical team

Patients must accurately inform the medical team of their health condition and must trust and respect the medical team's treatment plan. Patients may be responsible for consequences that result from not following instructions.

2. Responsibility to not use dishonest methods for medical treatment

Patients must reveal their identity before receiving any medical care and must not use false or dishonest methods, such as seeking medical care under disguised ownership.

3. Responsibility to abide by all hospital regulations

Patients are expected to treat all hospital staff and other patients with courtesy and respect; to abide by all hospital rules; and to earnestly fulfill their financial obligation to the hospital. Also, patients and their family members are expected to participate in all safety regulations.