Prof. Dr. Cemalettin Camcı is a Turkish general surgeon with a specialization in bariatric surgery and a record of international awards, including US and Norwegian scholarships, surgical practices, research residencies, medical publications and over 2,000 treated patients.
With more than 30 years of experience, Prof. Dr. Camci has worked as a medical practitioner at Rikshospitalet-Oslo, Norway’s only transplantation center, and at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplantation Institute in Oklahoma, USA.
In 2012, Prof. Dr. Camcı was also appointed as Deputy Dean and Head of the Department of Surgical Sciences, Head of the Department of General Surgery and Operating Coordinator at Istanbul Bilim University.
Interview with:
Prof. Dr. Cemalettin Camcı
(Head of Bariatric Surgery at Care in Turkey)
Hello doctor and thank you very much for having me. Could you please give us a general overview of your background and achievements?
Sure, I am a professor of general surgery with a bariatric specialization. I would like to emphasize that I was granted a scholarship through a Turkish-Norwegian cultural agreement to work at the Rikshospitalet in Oslo. I participated in liver and kidney transplantations and vascular operations mostly. After my Scandinavian adventure, I completed my general surgery specialization and went to the US, where I participated in more than 150 liver transplant donor and recipient operations in Oklahoma, in the Nazih Zuhdi Transplantation Institute.
Upon returning to Turkey, I shifted to the private sector and worked at Acibadem Group Hospital as an Associate Professor while continuing scientific research. In the last 6 years I have specialized in bariatric surgery with an advanced laparoscopic surgery certificate from Strasburg-France and have operated over 1000 cases of bariatric surgery. I have been working as a private practitioner since 2016.
What do you like the most and least about being a surgeon?
The positive sides are quite obvious. As a surgeon, I have the chance of improving people’s lives, to rid them of diseases. Talking about the internal medicine specialization, you give pills and medications, but you have to wait for the effects, through surgery you can get much more permanent and immediate results. That is the meaningful element of being a surgeon, it is rewarding to hear patients thanking you and telling you how much their life has changed for the better.
There are lots of negative aspects too of course, there is stress, sometimes you have to face very difficult cases, for examples shot wounds, and you can lose a patient on the table, it is a bitter pill to swallow.
Have you been in such a situation, have you treated shot wounds?
Yes, while working in a state hospital right after my specialization, I was on duty in the Adana area, there are social hardships over there, leading to gangs, organized crime and all sorts of problems. So yes, I was in such a situation. That was my training period. I had to treat very complicated cases of liver and pancreas damage, stomach damage, with serious time constraints and pressure.
I can’t think of a better training. Was that the craziest experience you’ve had so far?
Yes, gunshot wounds are the most difficult cases I have had to deal with. At the time of the Adana earthquake in 1998, as a general surgeon, I was in charge of the whole hospital on Sundays, I had many cases, it was a very difficult scenario. It was the most difficult time of my time. Fortunately, in the last 12 years I have moved away from that.
Glad to know. Are you married, do you have kids?
I am a twice-divorced hopeless romantic (laughs), I don’t have any kids yet, I am single, but I am open for anything. I’m kidding, I’m just single and maybe it’s better as a surgeon, I mean so far so good. I do have a cat, an adorable white-haired beauty.
I see! Continuing on the personal side, could you tell us why you decided to become a surgeon?
Sure. I knew it since I was in primary school. I consider myself very lucky, I have never had any doubts about it. I also had a mentor and inspirational figure: my uncle. He was a doctor, neighbours respected him, he had a certain prestige, you know. I decided I wanted to specialize in surgery while I was an undergrad at Ankara University. I thought it was fit for me, it was a gut feeling. I made the right choice. If I could go back in time, I would do the same.
Amazing. Could you please explain whether a sleeve gastrectomy is better than a gastric bypass?
7 to 10 years ago, US-based bariatric surgeons preferred bypasses to sleeves. A couple of years ago, a groundbreaking publication came out comparing both surgeries, we found out that a shift had taken place, and currently there is almost a 50% of bypasses and sleeves being performed in the US. That’s revealing, I don’t think there’s any better way to prove that a treatment is better than surgeons choosing one instead of the other. In Turkey, sleeve gastrectomy has been traditionally preferred.
Last week (May 2023) the Turkish obesity surgery congress took place in Ankara. Many publications and investigations were discussed. The result was that sleeve gastrectomy is generally regarded as a better option than a bypass to treat obesity. A sleeve gastrectomy has better results and is safer in the physiological aspect. A bypass is not only more technically difficult to perform, but a return to the normal, pre-operative state is practically impossible. Just to mention an example, blood sugar controls for diabetics show much better results with a sleeve, I am talking about type-II diabetes.
How do you find the work-life balance?
After opening my own private office life became much easier than before. I spend time by myself, I sing, I attend a chorale on the weekends. Life is good. I also like to have spare time for sports, shopping or whatever. It is much better than before, when I was training.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever heard from a patient?
You totally change their lives, you can’t barely recognize them a couple of years later. We are talking about dozens of kilos. Sometimes 60 or 80. At least 40. Losing weight changes everything. I have even performed sleeve gastrectomy for my brother and sister. The best thing I’ve heard is always: “You have changed my life.”
Thank you very much for your time, it has been a pleasure talking with you Dr. Camcı
Thank you, the pleasure is mine.
+90 541 739 40 40
