[Sportschosun Reporter Jang Jong-ho] Mokdong Himchan Hospital has reached 60,000 knee replacement surgeries, demonstrating its capabilities built on extensive clinical experience.
To mark the milestone, the hospital presented a bouquet of flowers to the patient who underwent the 60,000th knee replacement surgery and wished for a healthy return to daily life.
The operation was performed by Chief Medical Officer Lee Jeong-hoon, who personally congratulated the patient on her recovery and shared the significance of reaching the 60,000-case milestone.
Choi Jeong-ja, 84, who became the patient to undergo Mokdong Himchan Hospital's 60,000th knee replacement surgery, said, "I came to the hospital because my knee hurt and people around me recommended it, and I am simply grateful to have become the person behind such a meaningful record."
After being discharged on May 8, Choi is continuing her recovery and rehabilitation. She said, "After a fall in February, I could not walk at all and went through a painful time, but now I can walk well without pain." She added, "I was very worried because of my age, but my rehabilitation has gone well, to the point that I was told I am recovering faster than other patients."
Knee replacement surgery is a standard treatment for patients with advanced degenerative arthritis whose pain can no longer be controlled with conservative treatment, or for end-stage patients with leg deformities and walking difficulties. The procedure removes damaged joint surfaces and inserts an artificial joint to reduce pain and help restore knee alignment and function.
However, even when the surgery is the same, the degree of joint damage, leg deformity, muscle strength, and accompanying conditions vary from patient to patient. For that reason, careful judgment is needed from the preoperative evaluation to the placement of the implant, lower-limb alignment, soft tissue balance, and postoperative rehabilitation plan. In particular, elderly patients often have underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis, making overall health management before and after surgery especially important.
Extensive clinical experience is an important foundation throughout the treatment process.
Medical institutions that repeatedly treat a wide range of cases can accumulate the know-how needed to design surgery plans tailored to each patient, respond to variables that may arise during surgery, and adjust rehabilitation strategies according to recovery speed. In cases involving elderly patients or those with severe deformities, where treatment is more difficult, accumulated experience has an even greater impact on decisions before and after surgery.
Reaching 60,000 knee replacement surgeries is meaningful not simply as a number of operations, but because a single medical institution has steadily built expertise through 60,000 different clinical cases and raised the overall standard of the surgical process. Since knee replacement surgery directly affects walking ability and quality of life, abundant surgical experience and a systematic recovery management system are regarded as key indicators of a hospital's treatment capability.
Mokdong Himchan Hospital also stands out in robotic joint replacement surgery. Since introducing a surgical robot in 2020, it has steadily built up results, and as of April 2026, its robotic surgery cases had surpassed 16,000. This accumulated experience across both robotic and conventional joint replacement surgeries is being used to select the most suitable procedure for each patient and develop precise treatment plans.
Chief Medical Officer Lee Jeong-hoon of Mokdong Himchan Hospital said, "The clinical experience gained from performing countless surgeries and handling a wide range of cases, along with our know-how in recovery management, are the hospital's greatest assets and the foundation of patient trust." He added, "Based on our systematic surgery and rehabilitation system, we will do our utmost to help patients receive treatment with confidence and return to healthy daily lives."
Jang Jong-ho, Sportschosun
