Turkish Surgeons Perform First Living-Donor Organ Transplant in the Netherlands

Turkish surgeons performed the country's first adult living-donor liver transplant at Leiden University Hospital, one of the Netherlands' oldest and most prestigious hospitals.

Prof. Dr. Hamdi Karakayalı, General Surgery Specialist from Acıbadem University Atakent Hospital Organ Transplant Center, and Assoc. Dr. Tonguç Utku Yılmaz, along with General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Yaman Tokat, performed the first living-donor liver transplant ever conducted in the Netherlands.

While Turkey was previously a country that benefited from the knowledge and experience of foreign surgeons, today Turkish surgeons are guiding the world, particularly in the field of organ transplants from living donors. Physicians recognized internationally for their accumulated knowledge and experience are conducting training and pioneering operations. The latest example of this occurred in Leiden, a university city with a population of 250,000, at the hospital of Leiden University, which was founded 450 years ago as a reward to the town. Prof. Dr. Hamdi Karakayalı, General Surgery Specialist from Acıbadem University Atakent Hospital Organ Transplant Center, and Assoc. Dr. Tonguç Utku Yılmaz, along with General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Yaman Tokat, performed the first living-donor liver transplant conducted at Leiden University Hospital in the Netherlands, and experienced the satisfaction of being part of a success that opened a new chapter in the university's medical history.

They visited Turkey last year
While Turkey ranks among the lowest globally in deceased-donor transplants, it ranks first in living-donor organ transplants. Turkish physicians, who are now in a position to transfer the knowledge and experience gained in this field to foreign colleagues, have achieved significant successes. Prof. Dr. Hamdi Karakayalı recently spoke about the living-donor liver transplant they performed at Leiden University Hospital in the Netherlands as follows: "Last year, the organ transplant team from Leiden (surgeons, gastroenterologists, radiologists, pathologists, anesthesia and intensive care specialists, operating room nurses) visited us at Acıbadem University Atakent Hospital Organ Transplant Center and spent a week with us, observing three of our liver transplant surgeries. After returning to their country, they finally prepared a recipient and donor for the first case, and during an online consultation we conducted, we decided it was suitable and scheduled the surgery date. We transplanted a liver from a 29-year-old nephew donor to a 45-year-old Dutch patient and successfully completed the 13-hour operation. During this time, the donor surgery was performed robotically with the contribution of a surgeon from Taiwan who joined the team. We felt proud on behalf of our country to provide such support to a prestigious institution well-known worldwide, like Leiden University School of Medicine."

Turkey ranks 1st globally in living-donor transplant success
Prof. Dr. Karakayalı, emphasizing that according to official data, most of the approximately 35,000 patients registered on the Ministry of Health Organ Transplant Waiting List need urgent organ transplants, stated: "Organ donation is not meeting the need and unfortunately most patients lose their lives during the waiting period, while new patients are constantly being added to the list. On the other hand, when we look at the number of living-donor liver transplants that help treat patients who find donors, our country ranks 1st. However, the ideal situation would be for the rate of deceased-donor donations to be high. For this reason, we must definitely increase deceased-donor transplants in our country." Prof. Dr. Karakayalı also noted that according to the new regulation recently published by the Ministry of Health, organ donation declarations can now be made through E-Government and E-Nabız platforms, stating this is a promising development in increasing deceased-donor donations.