Welcoming new surgeons from Philippines and Nepal

On July 21, two international orthopedic surgeons joined Wellton Hospital, Korean Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Seoul, Korea.

Dr. Mark Besa

Dr. Suman Shrestha

Dr. Mark Besa graduated from Philippine Orthopedic Center, Quezon City, Philippines.

Dr. Besa will be with Wellton Hospital for the next six months as an international clinical fellow.  Philippine Orthopedic Center is a national orthopedic hospital in Philippines and has a good relationship with Wellton Hospital as clinical partners.

Dr. Besa will observe Orthopedic cases, outpatient consultations, daily rounds, and participate in weekly and monthly meetings and conferences to further enhance his knowledge.

Dr. Suman Shretha is an orthopedic surgeon from Nepal, and is now doing his fellowship program at Hallym University Sacred Heart Medical Center in Chun-cheon City.  He also attended at the first Wellton Live Surgery Workshop on minimally invasive Total Hip Arthroplasty held on July 3, 2014 at Wellton Hospital and witnessed the novel technique of Hip replacement with muscle & tendon sparing approach.  After attending the workshop, he decided to spend more time to learn about the technique.

Patient Interview after Knee Replacement [Wellton Hospital, Russia]

Russian patient came to Wellton Hospital (Seoul, Korea), and had a knee replacement.  She talks about things she was not able to do before surgery and how she feels after the surgery.

At Wellton Hospital, we combine the minimally invasive Total Knee Replacement (TKR) with their signature rehabilitation program that enables an early ambulation only four hours after surgery.



Patient is highly satisfied with the result.



For more information, please email global@wellton.co.kr or call +82-2-6925-6688.

Arthroscopic procedure & joint diseases

Arthroscopic Surgery / Wellton Hospital Korea

Arthroscopy is

(1)Achieves a high level of accuracy in diagnosis through high definition digital endoscope.

(2)A perfect alternative to conventional open surgical techniques, and causes considerably less tissue damage.

Arthroscopy

The arthroscope is a fiber-optic telescope, which is inserted into the joints (knee, shoulder or ankle) to evaluate and treat the conditions.  Most arthroscopic surgery is performed as day surgery with epidural  anesthesia.  The Arthroscopy is commonly performed for many sports injuries. 

Arthroscopy is useful for

 (1) torn floating cartilage (meniscus)

 (2) Torn surface (articular) cartilage

 (3) Removal of loose bodies and cysts.

 (4) Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL)

 (5) Patello-femoral (knee cap) disorders

 (6) Washout of infected knees

 (7) General diagnostic purposes

Diagnosis

Standing weight-bearing view X-ray of the knee is usually required.

MRI scan is needed if the diagnosis is unclear.

Meniscal Cartilage Tears:

Following a twisting type of injury the medial (or lateral) meniscus can tear. This results either from a sporting injury or may occur from a simple twisting injury when getting out of a chair or standing from a squatting position. Our cartilages become a little brittle as we get older and therefore can tear a little easier. The symptoms of a torn cartilage include

•Pain over the torn area i.e. inner or outer side of the knee

•Knee swelling

•Reduced motion

•Locking if the cartilage gets caught between the femur a tibia

CARTILAGE TEARS

Once a meniscal cartilage has torn it will not heal unless it is a very small tear that is near the capsule of the joint. Once the cartilage has torn it predisposes the knee to develop osteoarthritis (wear and tear) in 15 to 20 years. It is better to remove torn pieces from the knee if the knee is symptomatic.

Torn cartilages in general continue to cause symptoms of discomfort, pain and swelling until the loose, ragged pieces are removed. Only the torn section is removed and the knee should recover and become symptom free. If the entire meniscus is removed, the knee will develop osteoarthritis in 15 to 20 years. It is standard to remove only the torn section of cartilage in the hope that this will delay the onset of long-term wear and tear osteoarthritis.

Occasionally, provided the knee is stable and the tear is a certain type of tear in a young patient (peripheral bucket handle tear), the meniscus may be suitable for repair. If repaired, one has to avoid sports for a minimum of three months.

Articular Cartilage (Surface) Injury:

If the surface cartilage is torn, this is most significant as a major shock-absorbing function is compromised. Large pieces of articular cartilage can float in the knee (sometimes with bone attached) and this causes locking of the joint and can cause further deterioration due to the loose bodies floating around the knee causing further wear and tear. Most surface cartilage wear will ultimately lead to osteoarthritis. Mechanical symptoms of pain and swelling due to cartilage peeling off can be helped with arthroscopic surgery. The surgery smoothes the edges of the surface cartilage and removes loose bodies.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries:

Rupture of the Anterior (rarely the posterior) Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is a common sporting injury. Once ruptured the ACL does not heal and usually causes knee instability and the inability to return to normal sporting activities. An ACL reconstruction is required and a new ligament is fashioned to replace the ruptured ligament. This procedure is performed using the arthroscope.

Bakers Cysts:

Bakers cysts or popliteal cysts are often found on clinical examination and ultrasound / MRI scan. The cyst is a fluid filled cavity behind the knee and in adults arises from a torn meniscus or worn articular cartilage in the knee. These cysts usually do not require removal as treating the cause (torn knee cartilage) will in most cases reduce the size of the cyst. Occasionally the cysts rupture and can cause calf pain. The cysts are not dangerous and do not require treatment if the knee is asymptomatic.

Medical Tourism Information Session in Sakhalin, Russia

On June 20, 2014, At Mega Palace Hotel, Sakhalin, Russia, Wellton Hospital joined the Medical Tourism Information Session in Sakhalin, Russia  held by Gangseo-gu.  Wellton Hospital and six other hospitals gave presentations on their unique strength and experience in serving international patients.  

Hospitals at Medical Tourism Information Session In Sakhalin, Russia

Wellton Hospital focuses mostly on Joint diseases.
And Wellton Hospital is well-known for hip replacement and knee replacement surgery.

Patient from Sakhalin

Wellton Hospital in Sakhalin

Wellton hospital will go to Sakhalin to meet old & new patients in Russia from June 20~22, 2014.

On June 20, we will give a short presentation at Mega Palace Hotel with six other hospitals from Gang-seo gu area.

Old patients from Wellton Hospital will join us for follow-up check-up session on Saturday, June 21 2014 in Sakhalin, Russia.  They all had treatment done for all different parts of your body namely, hip, shoulder, knee, foot and ankle, etc.

Some of the patients will also bring their friends or family, who have knee or hip pain.

We want to see how well all of you are doing after surgery.

See you all there in Sakhalin!!

Wellton Hospital made the National Top3 for Hip Replacement Surgery

Copyright (c) Wellton Hospital, 2013

We proudly announce that WELLTON HOSPITAL has officially made the National Top 3 hospitals for the most Hip Replacement Surgery done in 2013.  

<News excerpt from Dong-A Daily>

Local Hospitals doing more surgery than the Big 5.

Recently there has been a tendency in patients choosing local hospitals for a number of surgeries over major medical centers in Seoul.

Top 10 for the Total Hip Replacement done in 2013

№	Location	Name of Institution	# of cases (THR)	# of patients (THR)
1	Chonnam Prov.	Hawsoon Chonnam Univ. Medical Center	493	430
2	Seoul	Samsung Medical Center	471	420
3	Seoul	WELLTON HOSPITAL	319	259
4	Kyung-gi Prov.	Bundang Seoul National Univ. Medical Center	233	203
5	Seoul	Asan Medical Center	216	207
6	Seoul	Kyunghee Univ. Medical Center	216	190
7	Chonnam Prov.	Yeosu Aeyang Hospital	198	175
8	Seoul	Seoul National Univ. Medical Center	185	168
9	Seoul	Gang-dong Kyunghee Univ. Medical Center	173	146
10	Seoul	Catholic Univ. Seoul St. Mary's Medical Center	172	153

According to the Performance Reporting in 2013 by HIRA (Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service), there were two local hospitals ranked as top 10 for the total hip replacement in 2013.  This is a remarkable result because both hospitals ranked even higher than two of the Big 5 Medical Centers, Seoul National University Medical Center and Seoul St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Congresswoman Nam-Yoon, a member of Health and Welfare Committee of National Assembly said, she has seen a possibility to resolve the Bandwagon effect in major medical centers in Seoul, and government should put continuous effort to balance and distribute patients more fairly among medical service providers.

There are three advantages of local hospitals, cost, technology and distance.

Many experts say, these local hospitals have absolute advantages over the big named medical centers.  Local hospitals can cost you 30~60% less than medical centers, and are equally or more advanced in technology; moreover they are located in the neighborhood, so that people do not need to travel far to get treatments.

For this, government plan aims to resolve herd behaviors in medical centers and help local hospitals to be more competent.  By doing so, government expect to reduce the overall cost of medical service but keep the quality high.

WELLTON ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALTY CENTER

Welcome to WELLTON HOSPITAL

As a part of our effort to deliver quality patient care and medical service, WELLTON HOSPITAL has established four Orthopedic specialty centers and two other Orthopedic specialists.  Each center focuses on their individual specialties such as Joint Replacement, Arthroscopic Surgery, Shoulder Injuries and Sports Injuries to assist you throughout your care at WELLTON HOSPITAL.


Four Orthopedic Specialty Centers at WELLTON HOSPITAL:
(1) Joint Replacement Center
     Director: Sang-ho Song, MD, PhD
       Specialized in surgical services for treating conditions of hip and knee with leading-edge Minimally Invasive Surgical technique.  Our goal is to help each patient reclaim their active lifestyles regardless of age.
   


(2) Arthroscopy Center
     Director: Tae-yoon Kim, MD, PhD
      Offers benefits of optimal outcome with smaller scar and recovery time with minimally invasive surgical procedure.  Arthroscopy Center is dedicated to various joint problems such as ligaments , cartilage injuries of knee, shoulder, elbow and ankle.

(3) Shoulder Center
     Director: Hee-Soo Seo, MD, PhD
      Dedicated to the provision of expertise and patient-focused-care for a full range of disorders of the shoulder.   Shoulder Center provides the most advanced care for both routine and complex shoulder problems.

(4) Sports Medicine Center
     Director: Kyung-Mo Sohn, MD
      Specialized in treating athletic injuries, and dedicated to providing care  to in juries sustained at all levels of physical activity.   At our Sports Medicine Center, we offer the most  advanced and minimally invasive treatment options to get active individuals back 

   
Besides the four Orthopedic Specialty Centers, we have a special clinic for hand & foot:
    Hand and Foot Clinic
     Specialist: Seok-woo Ryu MD, PhD