Over half of Korea�셲 heart transplants performed
at AMC as number reaches 400
5- and 10-year survival rates equal to world�셲 top medical institutions
at 86% and 75%

Over half of all heart transplants in Korea to date have been performed by AMC�셲 heart transplantation team.
The team announced that its 400th heart transplant was successfully performed on Dec. 28, with the transplantation
of a heart from a brain-dead donor to Patient Lee (female, age 57), whose life was at risk due to heart failure.
This high number of heart transplants at a single institution set a domestic record. As of 2012, 763 heart transplants
had been performed in Korea, and 400 of these, or 52.4% of the total, were performed at AMC.
Fifty-seven heart transplants were performed at AMC in 2012 alone, setting another domestic record for the highest
number of heart transplants in a single year at a single institution. The survival rates achieved by AMC have
also set domestic records, matching the highest rates in the world. Attaining heart transplant survival rates of
95% (1-year), 86% (5-year), and 75% (10-year), AMC has far surpassed the averages of the International Society
of Heart Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), which are 80% (1-year), 66% (5-year), and 47% (10-year). AMC�셲 rates are
equal to those of the world�셲 top institutions for heart transplants, Stanford University and the University of Texas.
Of AMC�셲 400 heart transplants to date, 70% were performed due to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), in which
the heart is enlarged and weakened. Early detection and a prompt response is recommended in cases of DCM,
a condition for which the complications include heart failure, and even death, due to the increased risk of sudden
cardiac arrest.

Dr. Jae-Joong Kim, a professor on the Organ Transplantation Center�셲 heart transplant team, commented,
�쏛lthough the level of organ transplantation in Korea can be claimed as among the best in the world, as evidenced
by our heart transplant survival rates, many patients are still suffering due to a shortage of organ donors.
With intensive treatment and care, surgery can be successful even in urgent high-risk cases. If our society
encouraged organ donation to a much greater extent, still more lives could be saved.��

Since Korea�셲 first successful heart transplant in 1992, AMC has written a new chapter in the history of heart
transplantation in Korea, achieving such challenging firsts for Korea as the nation�셲 first heart transplant between
a donor and recipient having a 4:1 weight difference, in 2005; the nation�셲 first successful simultaneous heart
kidney transplant, also in 2005; and the nation�셲 first simultaneous heart-liver transplant, in 2007.