Surgeons at a Seoul hospital say they have, for the first time in Korea, successfully performed a lung transplant on a patient who had already had a previous lung transplant.

The Yonsei University Health System said Friday that it successfully performed a lung transplant in January on a 44-year old, identified as Na, ten years after Na underwent a double-lung transplant.

Na had led a normal life after the first transplant but had difficulty breathing again in 2009.

The hospital says that Na, following the latest transplant, is breathing without respiratory aid and is recovering well.

The technique used to perform a second lung transplant is substantially more difficult than a first transplant, and since the patient has a weaker immune system, the mortality rate is high due to post-surgery infection.