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Mahmut Gazi Yaşargil
Born (1925-07-06) 6 July 1925 (age 99)
Lice, Diyarbakır Province, Turkey
Education Ankara University, Basel University PhD MD
Years active 1950–2009 Surgical field (neurosurgeon) 1950- (Professor of Neurosurgical Anatomy)
Known for Founding of Microneurosurgery,
Medical career
Profession Neurosurgeon
Institutions University of Vermont
University of Zurich
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Istanbul University
Sub-specialties Neurosurgery, Microneurosurgery, Neuroanatomy
Research microvascular surgery
Cerebrovascular disease
Awards Neurosurgeon of the half century (1950-2000) Neurosurgery 2009

Mahmut Gazi Yaşargil (born 6 July 1925) is a Turkish medical scientist and neurosurgeon. He collaborated with Raymond M. P. Donaghy M.D at the University of Vermont in developing microneurosurgery. Yaşargil treated epilepsy and brain tumours with instruments of his own design. From 1953 until his retirement in 1993 he was first resident, chief resident and then professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Zurich and the Zurich University Hospital. In 1999 he was honored as "Neurosurgery’s Man of the Century 1950–1999" at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. He is a founding member of Eurasian Academy. He is regarded as one of the greatest neurosurgeons in the modern age.

Education and career

Ether Dome
Yasargil at the Ether Dome
Compression forceps for Yasargil clips, Tuttlingen, Germany, Wellcome L0058096
Yasargil clips with their compression forceps. This kind of metallic clips were developed by Yaşargil and are still used during neurosurgery to help treat aneurysms.

He was born in Lice, Turkey. After attending Ankara Atatürk Lisesi and Ankara University between 1931 and 1943, he went to Germany to study medicine at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany. His genius in developing microsurgical techniques for use in cerebrovascular neurosurgery transformed the outcomes of patients with conditions that were previously inoperable. In 1969 Yaşargil became associate professor and in 1973 professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Zurich succeeding his mentor, Prof. Krayenbuhl. Over the next 20 years, he carried out laboratory work and clinical applications of micro techniques, performing 7500 intracranial operations in Zurich until his retirement in 1993. In 1994, Yaşargil accepted an appointment as Professor of Neurosurgery at the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock where he is still active in the practice of micro-neurosurgery, research, and teaching.

Together with Harvey Cushing, Yaşargil is hailed as one of the greatest neurosurgeons of the twentieth century. He has helped three generations of neurosurgeons, defining what is possible in neurosurgery, and then demonstrating how to achieve it. In the micro-neurosurgical anatomical laboratory in Zurich he trained around 3000 colleagues from all continents and representing all surgical specialties. He participated in several hundred national and international neurosurgical congresses, symposia, and courses as an invited guest. Yaşargil is in high regard in the Turkish society and is respected as an exemplary role model for Turkish youth.

He is married to Dianne Bader-Gibson Yaşargil, who was the nurse in charge of the operating suite by his side since 1973.

Membership

  • 1973–1975 President of the Neurosurgical Society of Switzerland

Awards

  • 2000 Turkish State Medal of Distinguished Service
  • Marcel Benoist Prize-1975

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Gazi Yaşargil para niños

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