• 1996 

First case of a successful artificial heart transplant surgery in Asia.

 

• 1997 

A successful surgery performed on a 93-year old liver cancer patient made NTUH into the Guinness World Record.

 

• 1998 

First successful cardiac cryosurgery in the world.

 

• 1999 

First microstereotatic deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson’s disease in Asia.

 

• 2000 

A successful cardiac transplantation surgery performed on the youngest patient in Asia.

 

• 2001 

Invented the KHP therapy as the treatment option with the highest curative rate in nasopharyngeal cancer treatment.

 

First successful case of using skin stem cell for corneal transplantation in the world.

 

• 2002 

First cadaveric lobar lung transplantation in Taiwan.

 

• 2003 

Received worldwide recognition for management of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemics.

 

First successful case of using autologous stem cell transplantation to treat nasopharyngeal cancer in the world.

 

• 2004 

Conducting the world's largest "HPV-008 vaccines for cervical cancer" clinical trial.

 

• 2005 

The first cross match positive living donor renal transplantation accomplished in Asia.

 

• 2006 

First successful endoscopic potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser surgery for recurrent nasopharyngeal cancer patient in the world.

 

Completing the world's first pharmacogenomic testing to predict interferon therapy efficacy for treating chronic hepatitis C patients.

 

• 2007 

The first successful Bicaval Heart Transplantation to treat both superior vena cava syndrome and severe heart failure in Taiwan.

 

In collaboration with the Department of Pharmacology of the College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, we successfully produced the first F-18 FLT (fluorothymidine) biomarkers for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in Taiwan. This is the first time in history that both the precursor and the radiotracer of the PET biomarker are produced in the same institution in Taiwan.

 

• 2008 

Successfully saving a drowning person under Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for 117 days, the longest record of ECMO use in the world.

 

The first successfully born "Rescue baby" for Thalassemia Major in Asia: We used the prenatal genetic diagnostic technique to select a HLA-matched embryo for a boy with Thalassemia Major as the future donor. The embryo was implanted through in vitro fertilization and the cord blood of the new born baby girl was used to rescue her brother with Thalassemia.

 

First successful heart transplantation with the recipient under Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for 16 days without a heart.

 

The Genetic Medicine Team at National Taiwan University Hospital has developed the world's first newborn screening program for Prompt disease.

 

• 2009 

Successfully synthesized Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy, radiolabeled with iodine-123; independently produced the FDG, radiolabeled with fluorine-18 (F-18), and the F-DOPA, to detect and diagnose neuroblastoma.

 

Designed and developed a new surgical technique, single-hole laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy, for the treatment of early gastric cancer. With this new method, the wound is only 2 cm in size. The patients can benefit with less pain, better outcome and earlier recovery.

 

Performed the first case in Asia using "Vagal Nerve Stimulator" to treat a young child with intractable epilepsy. This treatment can benefit those patients with intractable epilepsy who cannot be treated by intracranial surgery, antiepileptic medicine or ketogenic diet.

 

Announced successful treatment of recurrent corneal erosions with Nd:YAG laser. The success rate is 85%. The research result was published in “Ophthalmology” and was reported by “Eye World” magazine.

 

Department of Pediatrics, Department of Medical Genetics and Department of Surgery of NTUH worked as a team to provide an integrated treatment for an infant from Thailand born with Citrullinemia. This case has provided a building block for future international medical treatment for critical diseases.

 

Successfully performed Asia"s first case of Deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat Parkinson disease. Compared with traditional surgery, this procedure can reduce operating time by three to four hours and is able to increase the accuracy rates by 46%.

 

Discovered a medicine for treating Niemann-Pick disease Type C. The new treatment successfully inhibits deterioration of the disease and improves the patients' quality of life. European Union has approved this medicine for the treatment of Niemann-Pick disease Type C.

 

Introduced a groundbreaking technology in the diagnosis of Leukemia. It combines regular dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) with an innovative analysis algorithm to select high-risk phenotype AML patients for tailored anti-angiogenic therapy, monitor treatment response and evaluate the outcome. The research result has been presented in "Blood".

 

• 2010 

The "Center for Parkinson and Movement Disorders" was certified for the "Symbol of National Quality".

 

The advanced laparoscopic surgical team successfully completed a single-incision, minimally invasive laparoscopic appendectomy. It was the nation's first case.

 

The successful treatment of a woodchuck with hepatoma using a mixture of multiple gene therapy and a research paper was published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)".

 

The successful heart transplantation in a positive cross-match patient.

 

• 2011

Asia's first successful pregnancy and birth by an habitual abortion woman with chromosomal abnormalities by using new gene technologies.

 

Successful treatment of a rare case of urea cycle disorder on a patient from Mainland China.

 

A long-term cohort study conducted by a NTUH medical group found that children born prematurely tend to develop more refractive errors, including myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. This finging has been published in the US Journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science.

 

Since 2001, NTUH's chest surgery medical team has been applying chest endoscopy and laparoscopy for the purposes of esophagectomy and reconstruction. To this date, this team has successfully performed over 100 cases of endoscopic surgery for esophagectomy and reconstruction. Their reserach paper reporting this achievement has already been published by World Journal of Surgery, and also earned the honor of "2010 Outstanding Paper Award" from International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus (ISDE).

 

• 2012

The Fertility and Reproductive Medical Team of NTUH completed Asia's first successful case of preimplantation genetic diagnosis using blastocyst biopsy and array comparative genomic hybridization for women who suffer recurrent miscarriages caused by chromosomal translocation. A normal and healthy female baby was delivered in November 2011 (a press release was given in February 2012).

 

The Department of Medical Research of NTUH and the Department of Chemical Engineering of National Tsing Hua University collaborated to work on the latest Enterovirus (EV) vaccines. Using molecular biology techniques, the joint team researched and developed a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine. Animal trails of this VLP vaccine on macaque monkeys were successfully completed. The results showed the animals developed a rather good concentration of antibodies, as well as the ability to neutralize EV-71. This research result was published in VACCINE, the pre-eminent journal for reports on all kind of vaccines. This research team is the international forerunner in the research and development of new vaccines for EV.

 

NTUH was the first in Asia to successfully complete a robotic assisted kidney transplant.

 

A multi-center randomized trial led by the Department of Internal Medicine of NTUH confirmed the usefulness of a novel sequential treatment as the first-line treatment for Helicobacter pylori infection - a common pathogen for stomach diseases. In this research, the authors extensively analyzed antibiotic resistance, designed a decision model that could predict the efficacy of anti-H. pylori treatment in different regions around the world, and disseminated an important message that the optimal regimen should be tailored to the local prevalence rate of the antibiotic resistant strains. The results of the study were published in one of the top medical journals, THE LANCET.

 

• 2013

The pneumothorax research team, using a prospective randomized clinical trial, verified that the addition of mimocycline pleurodesis after the standard treatment of aspiration and drainage for primary spontaneous pneumothorax patients can effectively reduce the rate of recurrence and the probability of a follow-up operation. The study was published in The Lancet, a top medical journal, in 2013.

 

The liver transplantation team successfully harvested a right lobe from a living donor using robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery.

 

• 2015 

Through a collaborative team effort, researchers from National Taiwan University Hospital (Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Medical Genetics), National Taiwan University College of Medicine and Academia Sinica discovered the genes that cause antithyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis. The results of this research were published in Nature Communications.

 

A research team led by Dr. Chien-Chang Li, Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, identified a novel association between fluoroquinolone treatment and the risk of aortic aneurysms or aortic dissection. The risk is approximately two times more when compared with non-users. It is the first time in the world this association has been verified by research. Because fluoroquinolone is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics, the finding has significant public health implication. The results of this research were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

 

• 2016

From 2012, our research team led by Professor Yeong-Shiau Pu and Dr. Chung-Hsin Chen proved that aristolochic acid (AA) was a main carcinogen of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in Taiwan. The results of this study have been published in PNAS on May 22, 2012. We then focused on the carcinogenesis of AA and identified single base substitution frequency caused by AA was 10 times of that by other carcinogens, suggesting AA was a very potent carcinogen. In 2016, we reported the identification of TP53 mutation pattern as a part of personalized medicine for UTUC patients. The results of this study have been published in Oncotarget on June 7, 2016. Besides, we proved renal cell carcinoma was also affected by AA in Taiwan. The results of this study have been published in Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. on December 25, 2016.

 

Professor Ho-Hsiung Lin of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of National Taiwan University Hospital and Dr. Sheng-Mou Hsiao of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Far Eastern Memorial Hospital jointly published a study about re-treatment after discontinuation of antimuscarinic therapy or continuous antimuscarinic therapy for women with overactive bladder syndrome. The study found that frequent nocturia episodes, which is a suboptimal response, and small bladder capacity may predict persistent antimuscarinic therapy or re-treatment after solifenacin treatment of women with persistent or recurrent factors. The results of this study have been published in the online version of the journal Menopause on September 21, 2016.

 

• 2017

The medical team, led by Dr. Tsung-Lin Yang from the Department of Otolaryngology of NTUH, made a world-leading breakthrough in head and neck surgery by developing a trans-hairline approach to treat patients with head and neck tumors. The new surgical technique significantly reduces the surgical impact on head and neck appearance. The results have been published in Head & Neck, the leading journal of otolaryngology. What makes this new minimally invasive surgical procedure possible is the development of an innovative automatic mechanical wound opener for head and neck soft tissue (also referred to as Yang's retractor). This device has already been successfully patented in the United States, Japan, and many other countries and has received numerous awards and recognition. This novel surgical technique successfully achieves an aesthetic outcome for patients after undergoing head and neck surgery.

 

Established a model for newborn screening of spinal muscular atrophy Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the most common lethal inherited disease in newborns. In the most severe cases, infants exhibit at birth or soon after birth weakness and difficulty in breathing and feeding. Taking advantage of the universal newborn screening in Taiwan, it is possible to provide treatment to patients during the most ideal period, which is immediately after the symptoms occur, or even pre-symptomatically. With the parents' consent, National Taiwan University Hospital's Newborn Screening Center, in collaboration with all hospitals in Taiwan, used the same sample collected for newborn screening of inherited metabolic diseases to check if a baby had SMA. In total, around 120,000 newborns were screened and 8 were found to have SMA. Although one baby was unfortunately too severe to be treated, the other 7 babies were healthy and had not begun to exhibit any symptoms. Among them, 2 babies were successfully referred and received treatment before they exhibited symptoms. These results were published in the July 2017 issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.

 

The multicenter clinical study, led by professor Jou-Kou Wang of NTU's Children's Hospital, demonstrated a novel Palivizumab prophylaxis protocol for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. For children with congenital heart disease, this protocol can substantially reduce the hospitalization rate and severity of RSV infection. This is the first large-scale study in a subtropical and tropical area, and this protocol should be used as the treatment guideline for RSV prophylaxis. The results of this study have been published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

 

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) often causes severe symptoms, such as fainting, heart failure, shock, or even sudden death. VT in the pediatric population frequently causes life-threatening events requiring resuscitation. A study involving many centers around the world showed that the success rate of catheter ablation for left ventricular VT had a success rate of 71%, which is not ideal. Last year, NTUH reported that with ablation, a success rate as high as 90% for all VT patients and up to 93.9% for left ventricular VT patients were achieved. More importantly, many of the children who went into shock were successfully treated with ablation. These results have been published in the International Journal of Cardiology.

 

• 2018

The NTUH medical research team, consisting of the Department of Internal Medicine, led by Prof. Jia-Horng Kao and Dr. Chen-Hua Liu of the Hepatitis Research Center, and the Department of Surgery, led by Prof. Yih-Sharng Chen and Sheoi-Shen Wang, conducted the first clinical study in the world evaluating the efficacy and safety of interferon-free direct-acting antiviral agents, sofosbuvir plus ledipasvir or daclatasvir in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients after receiving orthotopic heart transplantation. The study showed that the sustained virologic response (SVR) rate was 100% and treatment tolerance was good, and was published in the January 2018 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. This report has served as an important reference for the treatment of HCV-infected patients receiving non-liver solid organ transplantation, and has also been listed as a treatment recommendation in the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) guidelines.

 

The medical team, led by Dr. Ting-Chen Chang from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of NTUH, made a world-leading breakthrough in female pelvic organ prolapse treatment by developing an individually tailored transvaginal mesh that allows simultaneous surgical procedures on patients for both stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. This novel technique and device solves the problem of requiring two separate surgeries. The new surgical technique and device establishes a new standard for individualized treatment of these patients. The results have been published in Journal of BioMed Research International. This device has already been successfully patented in many countries, including Taiwan, Japan, China, and United States, and has received many awards.

 

The big data research team, led by Dr. Chien-Chang Lee from the Emergency Department of National Taiwan University Hospital discovered in 2015 that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can increase the occurrence of a rare but fatal disease of the aorta: aortic dissections or aortic aneurysm rupture. Dr. Lee employed a novel epidemiological design (a case-crossover and case-time-control design) to solve the potential confounding bias problem in the analysis of big health claims databases and confirmed the association between fluoroquinolone antibiotics and the risk of fatal aorta diseases. His findings were verified by researchers from Canada and Sweden, which triggered the change of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics prescription guideline by the FDA. The FDA now warns that the powerful drugs should only be used when absolutely necessary. The new warning will be added to the labels and prescribing guidelines of fluoroquinolone drugs. Fluoroquinolones are very commonly used antibiotics for treating pneumonia or urinary tract infection. Each year, tens of millions of fluoroquinolones are prescribed to elderly patients. Dr. Lee's findings may help reduce the use of fluoroquinolones in elderly patients with minor infections, which can potentially save tens of thousands of people from developing fluoroquinolone-associated aortic dissection or aneurysm ruptures, thus saving thousands of lives annually. This is also the first time that a Taiwanese researcher's finding has changed worldwide antibiotics treatment guidelines.

 

• 2019

The medical team, led by Prof. Ta-Chen Su from NTUH's Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Department of Internal Medicine, made a world-leading breakthrough in establishing the association between adverse cardiovascular health effects and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) exposure. Prof. Su's prior studies' have revealed that DEHP exposure is associated with endothelial dysfunction involving increased endothelial microparticles and increased insulin resistance. In a July 2019 study published in Environmental Pollution, Prof. Su's team reported that carotid intima-media thickness and the urinary metabolites of DEHP share a significant dose-response relationship. In a May 2019 case control study published in Ecotoxicity and Environmental Safety, the team demonstrated that DEHP exposure is associated with coronary heart diseases among middle-aged individuals. This finding was announced at a press conference held on May 24, 2019 in NTUH to create public awareness and publicity on the issue in Taiwan.

 

The NTUH multidisciplinary team led by Dr. Jin-Chung Shih (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology), Prof. Jen-Kuang Lee (Cardiovascular Center), and Prof. Kao-Lang Liu (Department of Radiology), which also includes members from the Department of Urology, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Anesthesiology, and Department of Trauma, announced the creation of a novel uterine conservation procedure named by "Nausicaa suture". This novel compression suturing technique effectively decreases the need for hysterectomy and the risk of surgical complications for women suffering from severe placenta accreta spectrum and major postpartum hemorrhage. A paper describing the Nausicaa suture has been published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the procedure now serves as one of the hemostasis methods utilized for pregnant women in local and overseas medical centers.

 

The NTUH pediatric epilepsy surgery team performed a minimally invasive epilepsy surgery on a 3 year-old girl who was suffering from intractable seizure and epileptic encephalopathy due to encephalitis of the left cerebral hemisphere. With the aid of an endoscope and a microscope, the team was able to disconnect all the white matter links between the left and right cerebral hemispheres through a small wound incision without removing any brain tissue. The patient soon regained consciousness and has been seizure free since the surgery. This is the first time this complex procedure involving minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques has been performed in Taiwan.

 

• 2020

The medical team, led by Prof. Wuh-Liang Hwu from NTUH's Department of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, won the 17th National Innovation Award. Critical illness in infants and children, especially those caused by genetic diseases, is one of the most challenging fields in maternal and children health. In an intensive care unit, patients face the risk of death or serious sequelae. However, specific genetic diagnoses typically take time to confirm, making it impossible for patients to receive precise management for their diseases. Moreover, the prognoses of patients can remain poor even after a large amount of medical resources have been expended to treating them. With the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, we have accelerated and optimized the workflow of exome sequencing and variant interpretation, shortening the turnaround time to 1 week. We conducted 115 rapid WES diagnoses (trio), of which 50.4% (n=58) were successful at identifying disease-causing genes relating to the expanded phenotype spectrum and for diseases that were mostly first reported in Taiwan by us. We demonstrated the efficacy and feasibility of performing next generation sequencing in clinical diagnosis, and our results have been published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. In addition, we have also published Taiwan's ethics guideline for next-generation sequencing genetic testing and consultation, which will pave the way for providing high quality precision medicine to our patients.

 

NTU's Discovery Offers New Hope for Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients

A research team led by Dr. Kai-Chien Yang, Associate Professor of NTU's Department and Graduate Institute of Pharmacology, discovered the critical role that thioredoxin domain containing 5 (TXNDC5) plays in pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Published in Nature Communications, the team's findings may contribute to the development of a novel therapeutic approach against PF. PF is a major public health problem due to its high morbidity rate and the vast amounts of health care and economic resources required to treat the disease. Currently, there is no cure for the disease and the medications used to relieve its symptoms are often shown to be ineffective. As a result, a lung transplant is often the only option left for many patients. Therefore, novel therapeutic options are urgently needed to improve the treatment outcome and prognosis of PF patients. TXNDC5, a fibroblast-enriched endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein, is believed to be responsible for extracellular matrix (ECM) protein folding and has been linked to reactive oxygen species. In 2018, Dr. Yang and his team identified TXNDC5 as a possible novel mediator of cardiac fibrosis. Tzu-Han Lee, a Ph.D. student of Dr. Yang, later revealed through her research that TXNDC5 promotes fibrogensis by enhancing TGFβ1 signaling through direct binding with and the stabilization of TGFBR1 in lung fibroblasts. The team identified increased protein expression of TXNDC5 and myofibroblast marker αSMA in PF patients' lung tissues. Through an in vivo experiment using a mouse model of bleomycin-induced PF, the team found that by deleting TXNDC5, the development of PF can be significantly reduced, thus preserving the lung's function. Dr. Yang and his team will continue working on developing medications that target TXNDC5, hoping to develop a more effective therapeutic approach to mitigating PF and improving patients' lung function and outcomes. It is the mission of the team to develop drugs that help mitigate cardiac fibrosis, PF, and other respiratory dysfunctions. The team's findings will not only aid PF and cardiac patients but also possibly offer a ray of hope to those suffering from chronic kidney diseases and liver cirrhosis.

 

The thoracic surgical team led by Prof. Jin-Shing Chen from NTUH's Department of Surgery, has been actively involved in clinical and basic research on early lung cancer. They have developed novel operation techniques for early lung cancer surgery, such as "nonintubated anesthesia for thoracoscopic surgery" and "CT-guided dye localization of pulmonary nodules for uniportal VATS." Using these techniques, early lung cancer can be managed via precision-based and minimally invasive ways. The team has operated on more than 1,200 cases of lung cancer each year and published more than 50 SCI journals. Furthermore, they have also collaborated actively with distinguished research teams in research on the pathogenesis and progression of early lung cancer and published their findings in top-ranked journals such as Cell (182(1):226-244.).

 

National Taiwan University Hospital Successfully Performed the First Lung Transplant Using Lung Donated After Cardiocirculatory Death (Type IV DCD)

 

• 2021

By cooperating with Vysioneer, the leader in artificial intelligence (AI) for cancer care, a clinical research team from the NTUH Cyberknife Center has developed an AI-powered tumor automated contouring system named VBrainTM. The system has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the three most common types of brain tumors: brain metastasis, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma. As the first-ever AI-powered tumor auto-contouring solution cleared by the FDA, VBrain enables a quicker response time for performing radiation therapy with more precision in tumor targeting. Manual contouring time that may take several hours by clinicians is completed within a few minutes with the assistance of AI. As the first of its kind, the fully automated solution also ensures precision mapping of brain tumors with closer cuts and the ability to identify additional lesions that may be missed by the human eye. Following the clinical introduction of the system at NTUH, the results of a thorough reader study led by Dr. Shao-Lun Lu from the Department of Oncology, has been published in  Neuro-Oncology, a leading medical journal. Leveraging the most advanced clinical expertise and cutting-edge computer vision techniques, the academic-industry cooperation serves as a role model in championing bioinformatics technology and transforming the healthcare industry in Taiwan.

 

After 3 years of collaboration with aetherAI, Co., Ltd., the NTUH team led by Prof. Wen-Chien Chou (Department of Laboratory Medicine) have created the largest bone marrow (BM) cell annotation dataset in the world, which contains 800,000 annotated BM cells. This academia-industry collaboration utilized the advantages of abundant bone marrow specimens from NTUH and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) from aetherAI to create an automatic method for differential bone marrow cell counts. The AI model achieved an accuracy of 94% in classifying single cells. The AI model achieved a comparable performance to that of human experts in terms of determining the differential count percentage of each slide. This AI software was approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan on 4th-October-2021 (approval number: 007251) as an adjuvant tool for hematology workers.

 

The tracheal transplantation team led by Prof. Chen Jin-Sing from the Department of Thoracic Surgery and supported by the Regenerative Medicine Technology Development Program of the hospital and the Ministry of Science and Technology, has created the ideal bionic trachea by working together with a team of highly complementary professors and physicians across the fields of organ transplantation, automation, mechanics, materials, stem cells, medical ethics, and such others. to. In recent years, 25 cases of small animals and 6 cases of large animal tissue-engineered trachea transplantation in animal trials have been successfully completed This is the only team in Taiwan that has successfully accomplished a human experimentation with aortic tracheal transplantation. In February 2021, the team had completed the first successful aortic tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation in Asia, which was also the first successful case in the world in using this method to treat a 44-year-old male's tracheal tuberculosis.

 

• 2022

The team led by Prof. Han-Mo Chiu of NTUH has collaborated with Cathay General Hospital and AetherAI to successfully develop "aetherAI Endo", an AI-assisted real-time polyp detection system for colonoscopies. This product has received a medical device license from the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), becoming the first certified smart medical device in Taiwan. 

 

Prof. Yih-Sharng Chen led his team of cardiologists to establish treatment strategies for patients with LVAD. A patient was implanted a durable LVAD to support heart function, and epicardial 3D electrophysiological mapping system ablation (EnSite PrecisionTM) was performed during the operation. The patient recovered well after the operation; the occurrence of ventricular tachycardia was greatly reduced, and the patient regained a normal quality of life. This case is the first of its kind in the local cardiology specialty in Taiwan, and it is even more innovative throughout Asia. The findings have been published and promoted in an international journal in 2023.

 

On October 27, 2022, NTUH successfully completed Taiwan's first living-donor lobar lung transplantation on an 11-year-old girl who had been dependent on ECMO support for four months due to respiratory failure. Her healthy parents were the organ donors. Following the surgery, the girl's father has successfully returned to work and her mother has resumed her normal routine to focus on caring for her daughter during post-operative rehabilitation. This innovative medical technology not only marks a new milestone in organ transplantation in Taiwan, but also offers another option for life-saving treatment for those in need of organ donation.

 

Efforts in research and development by NTUH has effectively reduced the incidence of gastric cancer in Taiwan. Development of rescue prescriptions for refractory Helicobacter pylori and assessment of the long-term safety of eradicating therapy on the gut microbiome's antibiotic resistome.

 

NTUH has applied prostatic urethral lift (PUL) surgery to successfully treat five patients with substantial lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) caused by prostate enlargement after. PUL surgery was introduced by Prof. Jeff Shih-Chieh Chueh, Director of the Department of Urology at NTUH. This procedure has both been approved by the US FDA and the Taiwan FDA. It utilizes tiny medical devices and a special implantation method to expand the obstructed prostate urethral cavity by pulling apart the swollen prostate tissues to enlarge the lumen of the prostate urethra. It is less invasive than the traditional surgical methods of burning, destroying, or removing the prostatic adenoma. This ensures smooth urine flow without the need for medication. This minimally invasive technique targets men suffering form urinary symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate. The surgery minimizes trauma to the patient and takes less than half an hour to complete (compared to 40-120 minutes for traditional surgery). Patients can undergo the procedure under mild sedation and be discharged on the same day or after a day without the need for extended hospitalization.