Asan Medical experts achieve miracle with first infant exposed heart case in Korea
Published: 17 Dec. 2025, 16:20
![Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, is healthy and smiling after multiple surgeries at Seoul Asan Medical Center. [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/034ee0cd-3458-4087-bf0c-621dac440fb1.jpg)
Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, is healthy and smiling after multiple surgeries at Seoul Asan Medical Center. [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
A baby born with an exposed heart left the hospital, making a miraculous recovery after receiving intensive treatment from a multidisciplinary team of doctors.
On Wednesday, Asan Medical Center announced it had successfully performed a highly complex reconstructive surgery to insert the heart of newborn Park Seo-rin into the chest cavity and cover the chest with artificial skin — the first case of its kind in Korea.
Seo-rin, now eight months old, was born with ectopia cordis, an extremely rare congenital condition in which the heart is located outside the chest cavity.
Ectopia cordis occurs in five to eight out of every 1 million births. Over 90 percent of affected fetuses die before birth, or within 72 hours after delivery.
Seo-rin was a long-awaited second child for her parents, who had yearned for another baby after their first. She was conceived after 14 rounds of in vitro fertilization over three years. But the joy was short-lived — in November of last year, during a detailed fetal ultrasound at 12 weeks of pregnancy, doctors detected the congenital disorder.
At the time, doctors at the first hospital told the parents, “It is unlikely the baby will survive birth, and even if born, the chances of living past three days are slim, so you should prepare to let her go.”
Clinging to the last threads of hope, Seo-rin’s parents sought out Asan Medical Center.
![Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who underwent multiple surgeries for an exposed heart, rests at Seoul Asan Medical Center. [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/0a2df25d-fd01-48c7-907d-c6b45ca0971d.jpg)
Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who underwent multiple surgeries for an exposed heart, rests at Seoul Asan Medical Center. [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
“We couldn’t give up on the baby we had waited for through 14 tries,” they said.
Dr. Lee Mi-young, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital’s Fetal Treatment Center, who was the first to examine the case, closely monitored the heart’s structure and the fetus’s condition through repeated detailed ultrasounds. Dr. Baek Jae-suk, a professor of pediatric cardiology and Dr. Choi Eun-seok, a professor of pediatric cardiac surgery, searched every available piece of medical academic literature out there.
“The heart structure is normal,” they told Seo-rin’s parents. “Don’t give up — we’ll be with you to the end.”
Thanks to the team’s dedication and the parents’ determination, Seo-rin survived a full-term pregnancy of 38 weeks.
She was born on April 10 with her heart fully exposed and beating outside her body. She had no sternum or ribs to protect the heart, and her chest and abdominal skin had not formed, leaving the thorax completely open.
![Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, is surrounded by doctors who performed the procedures at Seoul Asan Medical Center [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/b59e7379-9f30-4697-96a2-1a5d18f94839.jpg)
Eight-month-old Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, is surrounded by doctors who performed the procedures at Seoul Asan Medical Center [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
Whenever she cried and strained, parts of her lungs were pushed out of her body. She could not survive on her own and was immediately placed on a ventilator. Her heart was temporarily covered with sterile dressings.
Experts in pediatric cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, plastic surgery, pediatric cardiac surgery, obstetrics and biomedical engineering gathered to determine a treatment strategy. They decided to proceed in stages — creating space in the chest cavity to fit the heart and then covering it with cultured skin to reconstruct the chest.
The immediate priority was to protect the exposed heart and stabilize breathing and body temperature. On the day after her birth, Dr. Kim Eun-key, a professor of plastic surgery, performed surgery to temporarily cover the open chest and exposed heart with artificial skin.
Then, beginning on May 7, Dr. Choi Se-hoon, a professor of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, carried out three surgeries to gradually move the heart into the chest cavity. It was an extremely delicate procedure that required maintaining blood pressure while avoiding damage to surrounding organs.
The surgeon lowered the liver and gently pushed the heart upward, and by the third surgery, the heart was entirely within the chest cavity.
![Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, poses for a photo with her parents after multiple surgeries at Seoul Asan Medical Center [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/52dd3923-ef52-4065-a2df-d3e49e464ee3.jpg)
Park Seo-rin, who was born with an exposed heart, poses for a photo with her parents after multiple surgeries at Seoul Asan Medical Center [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
On June 10, plastic surgery Dr. Kim succeeded in transplanting autologous artificial skin — grown from a small sample of Seo-rin’s own skin — onto her chest. Just two months after birth, the little patient's heart was in place.
However, with only skin covering the chest, she remained vulnerable to external shocks. Dr. Kim Nam-kug, a professor of biomedical engineering, designed a custom-made 3-D-printed chest brace to hold the chest wall together.
Around this time, Seo-rin began rehabilitation with specialists from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Seo-rin gradually recovered and was transferred to the general ward. Around the 100-day mark, she smiled at her parents for the first time. She has since been discharged and is now growing healthily while receiving outpatient care.
![Park Seo-rin plays with her with her older sister at the family's home [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/17/f79c0ab0-4614-4e47-8809-1e0513191bde.jpg)
Park Seo-rin plays with her with her older sister at the family's home [SEOUL ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
Her treatment is not yet complete. After she turns three, surgeons plan to install a rigid artificial chest structure and cover it with muscle and skin tissue. But the small heart that once beat outside her body now beats strongly inside, in its rightful place.
“Even though there was little information or precedent for treating this disease, the entire medical team at Asan Medical Center never gave up and kept searching for a way,” said Seo-rin’s mother. “We are deeply thankful to the doctors who helped us return home with Seo-rin.”
“There were unexpected challenges at every step, but the small signs of progress Seo-rin showed gave us hope and became the basis for deciding each next step,” said Dr. Baek. “I want to send a message of encouragement to children and families affected by rare diseases — that the willingness to take even a single step forward can open new possibilities.”
“Saving Seo-rin was not something any one doctor could have done alone,” the heart surgeon said. “It was possible only because experts from various fields came together, shared their assessments and plans, and collaborated closely.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY RHEE ESTHER [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)