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심장질환 · Heart disease · ICD-10 I20-I52
Heart disease: treatment options in Korea
Korea has world-class experience in coronary intervention and heart transplant: Professor Seung-Jung Park of Asan Medical Center in Seoul performed Korea's first coronary stent in 1991, and his team showed that for left main disease a stent gives a 10-year result similar to bypass (published in Circulation). For heart transplants in 2024, Asan did 31 and Samsung Seoul 20, the top two in Korea.
Why consider Korea
- Professor Seung-Jung Park of Asan Medical Center in Seoul performed Korea's first coronary stent in 1991[1]
- 10-year follow-up of a randomized study of left main disease: the combined endpoint of death, heart attack and stroke was similar for stent and bypass (18.2% vs 17.5%), published in Circulation[2]
- Heart transplants in 2024: Asan Medical Center in Seoul 31 and Samsung Medical Center 20, first and second in Korea (national organ transplant statistics report)[3]
- Asan Medical Center in Seoul says its one-year survival after heart transplant is 95%, against a US average of 86% over the same periodhospital or media claim[4]
- In Korea transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) grew by an average of 45% a year from 2015 to 2024[5]
Treatments
Percutaneous coronary intervention (stent) Surgery
A thin catheter is passed through the artery at the wrist or groin to the narrowed coronary artery of the heart, where a balloon opens it and a stent is placed. Used for angina and myocardial infarction.Coronary artery bypass grafting Surgery
The patient's own blood vessel is used to build a new route beside the narrowed coronary artery so blood bypasses the blockage. Often chosen for multi-vessel disease and diabetic patients. Some hospitals can do minimally invasive or robot-assisted bypass.Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) Surgery
A folded artificial valve is delivered through the artery in the groin and opened at the diseased aortic valve, with no open-chest surgery or stopped heart. Mainly used for elderly patients with aortic stenosis or high surgical risk. In Korea TAVI grew by an average of 45% a year from 2015 to 2024.Heart transplant Surgery
The failing heart is replaced with a heart from a brain-dead donor, for end-stage heart failure when medicine and other treatments no longer work. While waiting for a donor, some patients first have a ventricular assist device (artificial heart) implanted.Hospitals
Asan Medical Center, Seoul 서울아산병원
The most heart transplants in Korea in 2024; the hospital of Professor Seung-Jung Park, a pioneer of coronary interventionSamsung Medical Center 삼성서울병원
Second most heart transplants in Korea in 2024; artificial heart and heart failure teamSeoul National University Hospital 서울대학교병원
Cardiology and cardiovascular-thoracic surgery; performs robotic heart surgeryKorea University Anam Hospital 고려대학교 안암병원
Cardiovascular and thoracic surgery; performs heart transplants and artificial heartsDoctors
Seung-Jung Park 박승정 · Asan Medical Center, Seoul
Performed Korea's first coronary stent procedure in 1991[1]; Performed the world's first stent treatment for left main coronary stenosis in 1997 (media report)hospital or media claim[1]; His team's 10-year follow-up of a randomized study of left main disease: the combined endpoint of death, heart attack and stroke was similar in the stent and bypass groups (18.2% vs 17.5%), published in Circulation[2]; Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Korea in 2026[1]Jung-Min Ahn 안정민 · Asan Medical Center, Seoul
Member of the research team of the 10-year follow-up study of stent versus bypass for left main disease (with Professors Seung-Jung Park and Duk-Woo Park)[2]; Specialties listed on the hospital website: coronary artery disease (angina, heart attack), a transcatheter aortic valve (TAVI) clinic, mitral valve clip procedure[6]Sung-Ho Jung 정성호 · Asan Medical Center, Seoul
Specialties listed on the hospital website: adult heart disease, heart transplant, ventricular assist device (LVAD), valve disease, coronary artery disease, minimally invasive heart and aortic surgery[7]Yang Hyun Cho 조양현 · Samsung Medical Center
Specialties listed on the hospital website: artificial heart and ventricular assist devices, heart transplant, thoracic aortic surgery, complex valve surgery, ECMO, coronary bypass[8]Joo-Yong Hahn 한주용 · Samsung Medical Center
Specialties listed on the hospital website: cardiovascular intervention, angina, myocardial infarction, mitral valve intervention[8]Bon-Kwon Koo 구본권 · Seoul National University Hospital
Specialties listed on the hospital website: angina, chest pain, coronary arteries, myocardial infarction[9]Ho Young Hwang 황호영 · Seoul National University Hospital
Specialties listed on the hospital website: coronary artery bypass, heart transplant, adult cardiac surgery, ventricular assist device, valve surgery, arrhythmia surgery, robotic heart surgery[10]Jae Seung Jung 정재승 · Korea University Anam Hospital
Specialties listed on the hospital website: heart valve disease, heart transplant, ECMO, arrhythmia surgery, artificial heart (left ventricular assist device)[11]Coming to Korea for treatment
Documents to prepare: ECG and echocardiography reports, Coronary CT or angiography results (preferably the imaging disc), Blood tests (cardiac enzymes, lipids, kidney function and so on), List of medicines you are taking, especially anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs
Time in Korea: about 5~14 daysestimate, of which in hospital about 2~10 days
After returning home: After a stent you must take antiplatelet drugs for a long time as your doctor directs and not stop them on your own; the follow-up schedule after bypass, valve surgery and transplant is arranged by the doctor and can be followed up at a hospital in your home country.
FAQ
- Stent or bypass?
- It depends on the position of the lesion, the number of vessels involved, whether you have diabetes and so on. A study from Asan Medical Center in Korea showed that for left main disease, stent and bypass had similar 10-year results; but for complex multi-vessel disease bypass is still often the better choice. Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons assess it together.[2]
- Can foreigners wait for a heart transplant in Korea?
- Heart transplants depend on brain-dead donors and Korea allocates them through a unified national system; whether a foreigner can be registered to wait must be asked directly of the hospital's international center. This page makes no judgment on that.
- Does aortic valve stenosis always need open-chest surgery?
- Not necessarily. Elderly patients or those at high surgical risk can consider transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), which needs no open-chest surgery. Whether it suits you depends on the condition of the valve and your overall health.