The Department of Neurosurgery was established in June 1984. Since the earlier stage of establishment, the department has actively performed radiotherapy and chemotherapy in addition to the surgical treatment of brain tumor. In Korea, the Department of Neurosurgery at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital is leading the field. Based on the BRW and CRW stereotaxic systems introduced in 1988, the department performed Iridium-192 brachytherapy for the first time in Korea in June 1989. Then, in 1995, it administered the holmium-chitosan compound, the domestic No. 3 new drug developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, for cystic brain tumor for the first time in the world. In 2002, the department introduced CyberKnife, a radiosurgery system, for the first time in Korea. CyberKnife opened a new horizon for radiosurgery as it enabled radiosurgery application, which had only been possible for brain tumor, to the spine, liver, and lungs. In November 2010, the number of CyberKnife procedures performed by the CyberKnife Center at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital exceeded 2,500. Leading the trend, the center has been designated as a CyberKnife training center for the Asian region; thus contributing to the distribution of the CyberKnife system in Korea.

Having realized the importance of chemotherapy in the treatment of brain tumor earlier on, the Department of Neurosurgery is making the best effort for clinical application and new treatment development. With a number of internal protocols developed ranging from ACNU-CDDP continuous infusion chemotherapy to procarbazine metronomic chemotherapy, the department is applying the protocols to clinical practice and distributing them in the medical field. Chemotherapy is based on neuro-oncology. Since its establishment, the Department of Neurosurgery has conducted studies on brain tumor based on molecular biology. The research outcomes have been published in the internationally prestigious journals, and the department is focusing on studies for implementation with the goal of developing new treatment methods.

Since the first metastatic spinal tumor surgery in 1995, the department has actively performed surgeries. It has accumulated the largest number of treatment cases in Korea by applying the CyberKnife technique to spinal tumor treatment.

Although small in scale, the Department of Neurosurgery is playing a leading role in the treatment of tumors affecting the central nervous system as demonstrated by its performance in the basic study of neuro-oncology, various chemotherapies, radiotherapy represented by CyberKnife, and treatment of metastatic spinal tumor.