Doctors from Samsung Medical Center recently completed the hospital’s 4,000th microvascular decompression surgery on a patient who had semi-lateral facial seizures and trigeminal neuralgia.

Professor Park Kwan (left) from Samsung Medical Center completes the 4000th microvascular decompression surgery on a patient.

Microvascular decompression is a surgery used to relieve abnormal compression of a cranial nerve, according to the Mayfield Brain & Spine.

The hospital first completed 3,000 cases of the surgeries in 2015, indicating that it finished 1,000 operations in the past two years.

The latest surgery was completed by the surgical team led by Professor Park Kwan from the department of neurosurgery. Professor Park’s team finished nearly 30 percent of all the microvascular decompression surgeries completed in 2016, SMC said.

The hospital noted that it boasted a 0 percent mortality rate, a less than 1 percent hearing loss rate as well as a 93 percent surgical success rate for 3,600 cases.

“This is attributable to the vast experience and strong teamwork of the microvascular decompression team. We will continue to strive to play an internationally leading role in both clinical and research fields of microvascular decompression," Professor Park said.

yjc@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>