Cooperation Between Bahçeşehir University and the University of Groningen

Prof. Dr. Deniz Balcı, Head of the Department of General Surgery at Bahçeşehir University, successfully performed a living donor liver transplant with the organ transplant team of Groningen University in the Netherlands, where he served as a visiting professor, using a surgical technique specially developed for infants.

A 4-month-old baby, a Dutch citizen born with the condition known as “Biliary Atresia,” which resulted in underdeveloped bile ducts, had previously undergone two unsuccessful operations and a transplant decision was made due to progressive liver failure. In this method, which Prof. Dr. Balcı and his team began implementing five years ago and has been successfully used in over 20 cases to date, 3D reconstruction and surgical simulation of the liver to be transplanted were carried out using their own developed Livervision software. During the transplant, the liver was removed from the donor and successfully transplanted into the baby by being turned inside out using a special technique.

This procedure, known in medical literature as “Flip Liver Transplant” and regarded as an innovative approach, has been successfully implemented through the collaboration of Prof. Dr. Balcı and the Groningen University transplant team. This study once again highlights the pioneering mission of the Faculty of Medicine at Bahçeşehir University.