Turkey’s third double arm transplant performed in Antalya

ANTALYA – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photos

Turkish doctors at Antalya’s Akdeniz University performed the country’s third double arm transplant in an 11-hour operation on Feb. 2, with initial reports indicating the recipient is in good medical condition. 

A group of medics headed by Dr. Ömer Özkan and Dr. Özlenen Özkan operated on 29-year-old Mustafa Sağır between 12 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, conducting a double arm transplant for the third time in the country’s medical history. 

The health team consisted of 35 health professionals, including an orthopedist, a hand surgeon, an anesthesiologist, four dentists, 10 assistants, 10 nurses, five health technicians and an organ transplant coordinator. 

Initial reports indicate Sağır’s medical condition is fair, as he woke up early on Feb. 3. Sağır’s father, also named Mustafa, visited his son at the intensive care unit at 10:30 a.m. and told reporters that he was “moved” by his son’s new arms. 

“I saw my son with his new arms. He was awake, we talked. We didn’t think he would be awake so soon; he is doing well,” he said. 

The recipient lost both his arms in 2008 when he discovered an explosive at a plantation in the Kutluca village of the eastern province of Adıyaman where he was working at the time. According to reports, the explosive was a combination of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate that cost Sağır both his limbs after detonating in his hands. 

According to his father’s remarks, Mustafa was happily engaged at the time but had to separate from his fiancée because of the incident. 

Mustafa’s new limbs were donated by the family of 23-year-old Emin Konar, who was declared brain dead on Feb. 1, after he was involved in a motorcycle accident on Jan. 31. 

The supervisor of Akdeniz University’s organ transplant coordination unit, Nilgün Keçecioğlu, convinced Konar’s family to consider donating Emin’s organs for transplant. Reports indicate that Konar’s heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas and corneas will also be transplanted to patients in need of organs. However, the recipients of these organs have not yet been determined.