Korea University Anam Hospital has recently established Korea’s first dedicated Center for Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), designed to comprehensively manage patients with severe or treatment-resistant reflux esophagitis who do not respond to conventional pharmacotherapy or experience recurrent symptoms.
GERD is a common chronic gastrointestinal disorder affecting approximately 7–10% of the population in Korea. Among these patients, more than 30% are classified as refractory, showing inadequate symptom relief despite treatment with Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs). Until now, however, the domestic healthcare system has lacked a specialized center capable of providing comprehensive care—including advanced functional diagnostics, individualized treatment planning, surgical intervention, and long-term management—resulting in many patients undergoing repeated medication trials or receiving suboptimal care.
The newly launched center aims to address this structural gap in care delivery. It offers objective, precision-based diagnosis through advanced functional testing, including 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring and high-resolution esophageal manometry. Based on these results, the center evaluates the quantitative relationship between acid and non-acid reflux in relation to patient symptoms and develops tailored treatment strategies. In addition, it provides predictive counseling on the outcomes of anti-reflux surgery, leveraging proprietary surgical clinical data accumulated at Korea University Anam Hospital. A structured patient education program ensures continuity of care, covering the full spectrum from diagnosis to post-treatment management within a unified clinical pathway.
The center is led by Professor Sungsoo Park of the Division of Gastroenterological Surgery. Professor Park has accumulated extensive clinical experience in anti-reflux surgery for patients with refractory GERD and has published widely on the predictive value of preoperative esophageal pH monitoring and manometry in determining postoperative symptom improvement and prognosis. His research has underscored the importance of objective, test-based patient selection and has been recognized in leading domestic and international journals. These findings have been directly incorporated into the clinical protocols of the new center.
Professor Park has an h-index of 39, demonstrating his outstanding research impact in the field. He previously served as President of the Korean Society of Anti-Reflux Surgery and has played a key role in establishing both academic and clinical standards for anti-reflux surgical treatment. Through national research initiatives, he has further demonstrated the clinical efficacy of anti-reflux surgery and currently trains the largest number of international fellows in this specialty. He is also the author of the internationally published English textbook Laparoscopic Anti-Reflux Surgery , contributing to the global dissemination of advanced Korean surgical expertise.
“Refractory GERD is not simply a matter of changing medications,” said Professor Park. “It requires an integrated system encompassing precise diagnosis, rigorous patient selection, and long-term post-treatment management. Our center aims to serve as a trusted final point of care for patients who have struggled with repeated treatment failures.”