Liver Cancer & Liver Transplant in Korea

Asan Medical Center: the World’s Largest Liver Transplant Programme

In early 2025 Asan Medical Center became the first single institution in the world to perform 9,000 liver transplants — 7,502 of them living-donor procedures. It has completed more than 300 living-donor liver transplants every year since 2010, and now performs around 400 annually.

For comparison, that annual volume far exceeds Europe’s largest liver transplant centre. Volume matters in transplant surgery: outcomes correlate strongly with how often a team performs the operation.

Asan is also one of the few centres with an established programme in ABO-incompatible living-donor liver transplantation — where donor and recipient blood types do not match — with outcomes reported as comparable to blood-type compatible transplants. For a patient whose only available donor is a mismatched family member, that is the difference between having an option and not having one.

MEDIWIN holds a formal patient-referral agreement with Asan Medical Center and has coordinated liver cancer surgery and transplant cases there.

Здесь лечат

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The most common primary liver cancer, frequently arising in patients with hepatitis B or C or cirrhosis — the disease pattern Korean centres see in very high volume.

Liver resection. Removal of the tumour with preservation of functioning liver, including laparoscopic and robotic approaches where the tumour position allows.

Living-donor liver transplantation. A partial liver from a healthy donor, usually a family member. Korea performs this at a scale seen almost nowhere else, largely because deceased-donor organs are scarce.

Deceased-donor liver transplantation. Where a suitable organ is allocated.

Locoregional therapy. TACE, radiofrequency and microwave ablation for tumours not suitable for immediate resection.

Bile duct and metastatic liver cancer, including cholangiocarcinoma and colorectal liver metastases.

What MEDIWIN Does for a Liver Case

Liver cases are time-sensitive and document-heavy. What we handle:

— Translation of your diagnosis, CT or MRI imaging, biopsy results, AFP and liver function panels into the format the hospital requires

— Submission to the hepatobiliary surgery or transplant department for review

— If a transplant is being considered, coordination of the donor evaluation process and the documentation Korean law requires

— Written cost estimate and expected length of stay before you travel

— Medical visa documentation for the patient and, where relevant, the donor

— Professional interpretation at every consultation

— Discharge summary, immunosuppression guidance and remote follow-up after you return home

Start with a second opinion. Send your diagnosis and imaging and a specialist will review whether resection, ablation or transplant is realistic for your case — before you commit to travelling. Запросить второе мнение

Часто задаваемые вопросы

Q. Can I get a liver transplant in Korea as a foreigner?

Living-donor liver transplantation is available to international patients, and this is what Korean centres do at the highest volume. It requires a willing, medically suitable donor — in practice almost always a family member — who must also travel and undergo evaluation. Deceased-donor organ allocation is governed by Korean national rules that prioritise domestic patients, so a living donor is the realistic pathway for most overseas patients.

Q. Does the donor have to be the same blood type?

Not necessarily. Asan Medical Center runs an established ABO-incompatible living-donor programme with reported outcomes comparable to blood-type compatible transplantation. Whether it is appropriate in a specific case is a decision for the transplant team after reviewing both patient and donor.

Q. My doctor says my liver cancer is inoperable. Is it worth asking?

It can be. Assessments of resectability differ between centres, and a high-volume liver programme sometimes takes on cases another hospital declined. It can also confirm the original assessment. Either way you find out from your records, without travelling — that is what the second opinion service is for.

Q. How long would we need to be in Korea for a transplant?

Considerably longer than for most treatments — donor evaluation, surgery and post-operative monitoring for both patient and donor. The hospital gives a minimum length of stay with the cost estimate. We will not guess at a figure before the transplant team has reviewed the case.

В. Сколько это стоит?

The hospital issues a written estimate after reviewing your records, and it varies considerably with the procedure and the length of admission. MEDIWIN adds no fees to your medical bill — you pay the hospital directly.

Важно. MEDIWIN предоставляет эту услугу для только для пациентов, проживающих за пределами Кореи. Не предлагается резидентам Кореи. MEDIWIN является организатором медицинского туризма, а не медицинским учреждением: Каждое клиническое мнение, диагноз и решение о лечении принимаются и выдаются лицензированным врачом в лечащей больнице. MEDIWIN переводит и доставляет ваши медицинские карты в эту больницу, а также доставляет ответ больницы обратно вам. Компания не пишет, не изменяет, не резюмирует и не интерпретирует какие-либо медицинские заключения.