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Bariatric Surgery at Care in Turkey

Prof. Dr. Cemalettin Camcı

Touching lives with permanent and immediate results through weight loss surgery

cemalettin-camci

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.

Cemalettin Camcı Diplomas

Interview with:

Prof. Dr. Cemalettin Camcı

(Head of Bariatric Surgery at Care in Turkey)

Hello doctor and thank you very much for taking your time. Could you please give us a general overview of your background and achievements?

Hey there! 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 pursuing 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 opportunity to improve people's lives and cure them of diseases, which is a truly rewarding aspect of my work. I am talking about the internal medicine specialization, you prescribe 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 example 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 or have you treated shot wounds?

Yes, while working in a public hospital right after my specialization, I was stationed in the Adana area. There were many social challenges, social hardships and all sorts of problems. So yes, I was in such a situation. That was during my training period. I had to treat extremely complicated cases of liver, pancreas damage and stomach damage, often under intense time pressure and challenging circumstances.

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.But if  we are talking about a general experience; the Adana earthquake in 1998 was the most difficult time of my life on duty. As a general surgeon, I was in charge of the whole hospital on Sundays. I had a lot of cases, it was an extremely challenging scenario. Fortunately, in the last 12 years I have moved away from that.

Could you tell us why you decided to become a surgeon?

I knew I wanted to be a surgeon 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 which was my uncle. He was a doctor and our neighbours showed him respect, he had a certain prestige, a precious place in society. I decided I wanted to specialize in surgery while I was an undergrad at Ankara University. I thought it was fitting for me, it was a gut feeling. I am sure 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 quite telling. I don't think there's a stronger way to demonstrate the superiority of a treatment than by seeing surgeons choose one option over another. 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 clinic, 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 anything. It is much better than before, when I was training.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever heard from a patient?

The best thing I’ve heard is always: “You have changed my life.” You totally change their lives, you can’t barely recognize them in a couple of years. I am talking about dozens of kilos. Sometimes 60 or even 80 but at least 40. Losing weight changes everything. I have even performed sleeve gastrectomy for my brother and sister. 

 

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