Hanyang University (HYU) Hospital’s Department of Surgery held the first “Hanyang University Hospital Robotic Surgery Symposium” on January 28, from 1 to 6 p.m. The symposium was conducted in the Team Base Learning (TBL) room on the 6th floor of the College of Medicine at HYU. It was hosted by Choi Dong-ho, a chief surgeon at HYU Hospital. 

Despite the advancing surgical technology assisted by a robot, doctor Choi stated that adopting robot-assisted surgery has not been implemented thoroughly in HYU Hospital, compared to other medical institutions or hospitals. Therefore, with an inflow of the new medical appliance, he decided to conduct the symposium to promote, educate and share information on robotic surgery. After adopting the technology, operations requiring advanced and challenging skills, such as kidney or liver transplants, became more feasible. Doctor Choi asserted, “It was meaningful to give a lecture on ‘robot-assisted kidney transplantation’ conducted by Asan Hospital in Seoul, which is the most well-known hospital for doing robotassisted kidney transplantation.” 

To elaborate on the significance of hosting the symposium, doctor Choi added that hosting it frequently would not only convey attention to the hospital and robotic surgery itself but also makes it easier to treat patients, as latent technologies are evolving more than ever before. Doctor Choi emphasized, “The department of surgery indeed is an integral part, yet entails hardships. Therefore, as a chief surgeon, I hope surgery will become a more promising and invigorating sector in the hospital due to the symposium.” HYU Hospital will be holding a symposium on robotic surgery periodically, as well as a symposium on organ transplant scheduled this June. Additionally, HYU Hospital has opened a YouTube channel “@HYUnivMedical,” so people can stay tuned to the channel for upcoming issues or events.