Seoul Asan Medical Center announced on February 19 that it completed 329 deliveries in January alone, reaching a milestone of over 300 high-risk deliveries.
Among the survivors were babies who had been given less than a 1% chance of survival: Seo-rin, born with ectopia cordis, a condition where the heart is located outside the body; Yi-jun, born with a thumb-sized heart carrying four structural defects including right ventricular outflow tract stenosis, ventricular septal defect, overriding aorta, and right ventricular hypertrophy; and Geon-woo and Sa-rang, born at 288 grams and 302 grams respectively—the lowest birth weights ever recorded in South Korea.
According to the hospital, high-risk pregnancies and fetal anomalies accounted for 4,163 cases, or 59.5%, of the 6,999 total deliveries performed over the past three years. This means six out of every ten patients were classified as high-risk.
Complex cases requiring intensive care dominated the caseload: 461 cases of preterm labor, 723 cases of premature rupture of membranes, 288 cases of severe preeclampsia, 51 cases of placental abruption, 468 cases of placenta previa, 155 cases of polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios, 163 cases of cervical incompetence, and 298 cases of intrauterine growth restriction. Severe fetal anomalies totaled 1,517 cases.
The hospital's delivery volume is comparable to world-leading institutions—Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital perform approximately 200 deliveries per month, while Massachusetts General Hospital handles around 300.
Hospital officials attributed the achievement to its Fetal Treatment Center, the first of its kind in South Korea when it opened in 2004. The center performs approximately 5,000 detailed fetal ultrasounds annually for early diagnosis of fetal anomalies and provides integrated care from prenatal treatment through postnatal care and prognosis management.
The center operates a multidisciplinary collaboration system linking obstetrics and gynecology with neonatology, pediatrics, pediatric cardiology, pediatric surgery, pediatric cardiac surgery, pediatric urology, pediatric orthopedics, and pediatric neurosurgery.
Since its opening, the center has performed 332 fetoscopic surgeries, 711 fetal shunt procedures, 291 radiofrequency ablations, and 234 fetal transfusions.
"Achieving 300 deliveries in a single month—with more than half involving high-risk pregnancies or fetal anomalies—represents a meaningful accomplishment made possible by all medical staff who dedicated themselves day and night, refusing to give up on precious lives," said Won Hye-sung, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Seoul Asan Medical Center. "We will continue to collaborate closely with neonatology and related departments and further enhance our expertise in high-risk deliveries through the advancement of our Fetal Treatment Center."