According to the yearbook issued recently by AMC Cancer Institute, the number of patients who received treatment in AMC Cancer Institute has been on a steady rise with 745,634 in 2012; 765,764 in 2013; 803,955 in 2014; 850,811 in 2015; and 906,985 in 2016. The number has also increased by 2.7% in 2013, 5.0% in 2014, 5.8% in 2015, and 6.6% in 2016.

Last year, AMC Cancer Institute not only performed 19,506 cancer surgeries, 163,000 chemotherapies, and 103,925 radiation therapies but also conducted 23,470 multidisciplinary cancer care and specialized treatments in which five or six specialists discuss how to offer customized diagnosis services, surgery, and chemo-radiation therapy to a single patient. It was an increase of 13.1% compared to 20,746 cases in 2015.

In 2016, AMC was widely recognized for its research competiveness. A research team led by Professor Kim Tae-won and Professor Hong Yong-sang of the department of oncology proved that the use of two anti-cancer drugs in combination after rectal cancer surgery decreased relapse by 34% compared to the existing method of using a single anti-cancer drug. This result changed the guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) of the United States for rectal cancer treatment and led to insurance coverage of FOLFOX, which is a postoperative adjuvant therapy for rectal cancer. A research team led by Professor Jang Se-jin of the department of pathology won a contract for a government-sponsored multidisciplinary post-genome project aimed at establishing an integrated organoid bio-bank system of genomes and clinical information of the five most common cancers in Korea and developing a precision medicine application platform, as the unique technology developed by the team was recognized for its excellence. Meanwhile, ‘Oncotaxonomy that classifies the stage of extrahepatic bile duct cancer based on a specific infiltration depth of cancer cells’—which was newly developed by a research team led by Professor Hong Seung-mo of the department of pathology—was adopted as an official way of classifying the stage of extrahepatic bile duct cancer in the 8th edition of the cancer staging manual established by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). Advances like these show why AMC Cancer Institute is setting new international and domestic standards for cancer treatment.

President of AMC Cancer Institute Yu Chang-sik said, “Today’s achievements were possible because we always put cancer patients first and strive to introduce advanced systems. We will make the utmost effort to provide the best customized treatment to each one of our patients based on our sufficient clinical experience.”

AMC Cancer Institute’s performance in 2016:

• - 827,648 outpatients, 79,337 inpatients, 19,506 cancer surgeries, 4,349 integrative cancer treatments
• - 19,121 specialized treatments, 103 cancer clinical trials, 103,925 radiation therapies
• - 163,000 chemotherapies, 507 trainings by Cancer Edu-Info Center
• - 6,507 participants in trainings provided by Cancer Edu-Info Center, 1,029 hospice consulting patients, 10,274 cancer emergency patients