Doctors remove leg from quadruple-limb transplant patient

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Prof. Dr. Murat Tuncer. AA Photo

Turkish surgeons were forced to remove one leg from a patient who underwent the world's first quadruple-limb transplant at a Turkish university hospital in Ankara over the weekend.

"We were forced to remove the left leg as the patient's heart and vascular system could not sustain the limb,” Dr. Murat Tuncer, rector of Hacettepe University, told reporters today after consulting with the family of the patient, Şevket Çavdar.

Tuncer said Çavdar’s overall condition was stable, adding that the other leg and the two arms were in good condition.

Tuncer said a separate patient who received a full face transplant yesterday – the second such transplant in Turkish history following the first operation last month – was in fair condition.