Turkish surgeon performs world’s 1st simultaneous 8-way liver transplant

A medical team led by renowned Turkish transplant surgeon Prof. Dr. Sezai Yılmaz has performed the world’s first simultaneous eight-way cross-liver transplant in Malatya province, completing 16 surgeries in a 22-hour operation that could expand lifesaving options for patients struggling to find compatible donors.

The landmark procedure involved eight donors and eight recipients from different families and required 16 operations to be performed simultaneously. The marathon surgery lasted approximately 22 hours, with all patients reported to be in good condition afterward.

Yılmaz, director of the Liver Transplant Institute at Inönü University and one of the world’s leading liver transplant surgeons, said the operation was undertaken to save critically ill patients who had exhausted conventional donor options. He said the objective was not to set a record but to save patients whose conditions had become critical while waiting for compatible donors.

“Our only goal was to help patients in the cross-transplant pool who were in extremely difficult conditions,” Yılmaz said. “Two of them may not have survived another week, while another was on the verge of falling into a liver coma. The only matching option for these patients was an eight-way model.”

Cross transplantation allows incompatible donor-recipient pairs to exchange organs with other pairs, increasing the chances of successful transplants for patients who otherwise might not find suitable matches.

Yılmaz said the institute has the expertise and infrastructure to conduct even larger cross-transplant operations involving nine or 10 donor-recipient pairs if necessary.

“It was an exhausting process that lasted around 22 hours, but seeing all of our patients doing well is the greatest reward,” he said. “This achievement belongs not to one person but to our entire multidisciplinary team.”

The Malatya-based center has previously carried out a series of world-first cross-liver transplants involving four, five, six and seven donor-recipient pairs, helping establish the city as a global hub for advanced liver transplantation procedures.

According to Yılmaz, the cross-transplant model has emerged as one of the most effective alternatives for thousands of patients waiting for organ donations.