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.
The medical team that led the groundbreaking transplant surgery in Malatya, in this photo released on June 16, 2026. (DHA Photo)
"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."
