02/01/2026
🧠 A Surgeon’s Most Unforgettable Moment — and a Lifelong Mission
For Dr. Kuo-Chen Wei, Director of the Neuroscience Research Center at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, one surgery stands out above all others in his more than 30-year career.
💡 His most unforgettable case was performing an awake craniotomy for a deaf-mute patient—a procedure that normally relies on verbal communication to protect the brain’s language areas.
Unable to use speech, the patient required an entirely different approach. Dr. Wei and his team worked closely with sign language teachers, establishing clear gestures and signals before surgery. The tumor was successfully removed, and the patient’s cognitive and communication abilities were preserved.
🌍 This remarkable operation became only the second case in Taiwan and the third worldwide of its kind.
🔬 Beyond the operating room, Dr. Wei is deeply committed to research on the blood–brain barrier—one of the greatest challenges in treating brain diseases. Since the mid-2000s, he has led pioneering work using focused ultrasound to temporarily open the blood–brain barrier, allowing medications to reach brain tumors more effectively. This research has progressed from animal studies to Phase III clinical trials, bringing new hope for future brain tumor treatments.
✨ “A surgeon’s hands are just tools—the mind and judgment behind them are what truly determine success.”
Source:
「外科醫師的手僅是工具，醫師的『腦』才是決定手術是否成功的關鍵。」行醫30多年的林口長庚醫院神經科學研究中心主任魏國珍說...
