▲To commemorate the successful laparoscopic donor hepatectomy, the liver transplantation team from Asan Medical Center and the local medical staff are taking a commemorative photo (Feb. 22, 2025).

In the first row, the 5^th person from the right is Professor Woo-Hyoung Kang and the 6^th is Professor Dong-Hwan Jung of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center

Despite having the highest liver cancer mortality rate in the world, Mongolia was unable to perform liver transplantation, forcing its patients to travel abroad for treatment. In 2010, Korean doctors stepped in to share their expertise in living donor liver transplantation to Mongolian medical professionals. Over the next 15 years, spanning a total of 5,400 days, 406 medical professionals from both Korea and Mongolia traveled between the two countries. As a result, Mongolia was able to perform living donor liver transplantation on more than 300 of its own citizens, honoring the efforts of Korean doctors with significant achievement.

Asan Medical Center, at the request of the Mongolian government, has been teaching the living donor liver transplantation to the First Central Hospital of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for the past 15 years. Recently, the hospital achieved a cumulative total of 300 living donor liver transplantation, marking its full independence in liver transplantation.

Notably, on the 22nd of last month, the First Central Hospital of Mongolia successfully performed the country’s first complex laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. A liver from 25-year-old son, Galaa was successfully transplanted into his 41-year-old mother, Enkhee, who had been suffering from cirrhosis. The procedure was conducted with the participation of Professor Dong-Hwan Jung and Professor Woo-Hyoung Kang of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center.

▲Professor Dong-Hwan Jung (third from the left) of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center is performing Mongolia’s first laparoscopic donor hepatectomy with the local medical staff

(Feb. 22, 2025)

In Mongolia, once a barren land for liver transplantation, the successful implementation of living donor liver transplantation through laparoscopic hepatectomy was made possible with the efforts of Asan Medical Center. Since 2010, Asan Medical Center has invited 192 medical professionals, including surgeons and nurses from the First Central Hospital of Mongolia, for training. Beginning in 2011, Asan Medical Center dispatched 214 medical staff members to Mongolia on 19 separate occasions, establishing a liver transplantation treatment and surgery system and performing collaborative surgeries.

In particular, Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center, a world-renowned expert in the field of living donor liver transplantation, visited Mongolia 20 times, including his direct involvement in Mongolia's first living donor liver transplantation.

As a result, the First Central Hospital of Mongolia has now grown to the point where it can teach liver transplantation to other hospitals in Mongolia that do not perform transplantation surgeries

▲Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee (second from the right) of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center is performing Mongolia’s first living donor liver transplantation with the local medical staff

(Sept. 24, 2011)

This achievement is regarded as the result of the ‘Asan-in-Asia’ project by Asan Medical Center, a medical self-reliance initiative program for underdeveloped countries in Asia. The Asan-in-Asia project was launched in 2009 with the goal of helping Asian countries with challenging healthcare environments, such as Mongolia and Vietnam. This initiative mirrors the support South Korea received in the mid-1950s through the Minnesota Project, which laid the foundation for modern medicine in South Korea.

In late 2009, in an effort to resolve Mongolia’s national challenge of having the highest liver cancer mortality rate in the world, the Mongolian government organized a team to bring a liver transplantation program and requested assistance from Asan Medical Center, which has the world’s leading liver transplantation education and system.

Asan Medical Center accepted the Mongolian government's request and embarked on a three-phase liver transplantation training project. Phase 1 involved training local medical staff at Asan Medical Center, Phase 2 aimed on the medical team of Asan Medical Center performing surgeries and managing surgical patients in Mongolia, and Phase 3 focused on establishing a system for independent liver transplantation operations, including improving liver transplantation success rates.

During this process, efforts were made to improve the medical environment by providing the necessary equipment that was lacking locally. The costs associated with the transfer of liver transplantation techniques were fully supported by the Asan Foundation and Asan Medical Center.

Training for the medical staff of the First Central Hospital of Mongolia at Asan Medical Center began in June 2010. In September 2011, a liver transplantation team from Asan Medical Center, consisting of 20 medical professionals, visited Mongolia and successfully performed Mongolia’s first living donor liver transplantation. During the same visit, they also carried out two additional living donor liver transplantation surgeries. In February 2014, the team participated in Mongolia’s first pediatric living donor liver transplantation alongside local medical staff, and successfully led the surgery.

Since 2015, the First Central Hospital of Mongolia has begun performing liver transplantation surgeries independently. Whenever local medical staff, who received liver transplantation training, conducted surgeries on their own, they were provided with continuous support through email, social media, and video calls. The liver transplantation team at Asan Medical Center offered guidance on patient eligibility for transplantation, surgical precautions, and patient management.

▲After completing Mongolia's first living donor liver transplantation, the liver transplantation team from Asan Medical Center and the local medical staff are taking a commemorative photo (Sept. 24, 2011).

On the 22^nd of last month, Asan Medical Center assisted in the successful implementation of Mongolia’s first living donor liver transplantation using laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. While the First Central Hospital of Mongolia had performed over 300 cases of living donor liver transplantation and had established a stable surgical track record, they lacked experience in laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. Therefore, they requested assistance from Asan Medical Center.

To support this, the liver transplantation team at Asan Medical Center invited local medical staff to Asan Medical Center for a month-long training on laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. As it was their first attempt, for safety reasons, a team of four medical professionals, including Professors Dong-Hwan Jung and Woo-Hyoung Kang of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery, as well as nurses Ms. Sun Young Shin and Mr. Jae Hoe Kim from the OR Nursing Team, visited the First Central Hospital of Mongolia from February 21st (Friday) for three days to perform the surgery together.

Endowed-Chair Professor Sung-Gyu Lee of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center, who led the Asan-in-Asia project, said, “When we first signed the agreement with the Mongolian government, despite Mongolia having the highest liver cancer mortality rate in the world, the country lacked proper liver transplantation techniques and equipment, relying entirely on overseas medical treatment. Now, it is deeply moving to know that more than 300 patients in Mongolia have received liver transplantation and gained new lives. I believe this is the result of 15 years of dedication and effort by the liver transplantation team at Asan Medical Center.”

Professor Dong-Hwan Jung of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center said, "This achievement goes beyond simply transferring liver transplantation techniques to Mongolia. It is significant in that we have implanted the liver transplantation treatment and surgical system of Asan Medical Center over the long term, establishing the foundation for Mongolian hospitals to save more of their own patients. Personally, I feel honored to have participated in both Mongolia’s first living donor liver transplantation and the recent laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. I will continue to provide full support to ensure that laparoscopic donor hepatectomy becomes well-established locally.”

Meanwhile, the liver transplantation team at Asan Medical Center has performed a cumulative total of 7,445 cases of living donor liver transplantation. Including deceased donor liver transplantation, they have given new life to 8,937 patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD). The team holds the world record for the highest number of 2-to-1 living donor liver transplantation, with 649 cases, where part of the liver from two donors is transplanted into a single recipient. Additionally, the team has performed the highest number of ABO-incompatible living donor liver transplantation in the world, with 1,111 cases. Over 500 laparoscopic donor hepatectomies for living donor liver transplantation have also been carried out.

Despite the fact that most of the transplantation at Asan Medical Center are complex living donor liver transplantation, the overall survival rates are remarkably high, with a 1-year survival rate of 98%, a 3-year survival rate of 90%, and a 10-year survival rate of 89%.