- An American patient suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, who got rejected from some of the best medical centers in the U.S., received a liver transplant operation in Korea.
- Charles Carson, a 47-year-old American man, visited Stanford Medical Center for examination and was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and hepatocirrhosis.
* Myelodysplastic syndrome is a dangerous disease where a reduction in the number of red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells can lead to immunity disorders as well as leukemia.
- The only hope left for him was to get part of his wife’s liver transplanted. But even the best doctors in the U.S. turned him away for it was a “tricky operation.” Their concern was rooted in the possibility of a relapse triggered by his marrow disorder.
- Doctors at Stanford referred Carson to the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, with the note that the medical techniques for live-liver transplants were much more advanced in South Korea.
- In August last year, Asan became the first medical center in the world to have reached the mark of 5,000 liver transplant operations. With one-year survival rate stands at 97 percent, much higher than the average of American hospitals at 89 percent.