Professor of neurosurgery: Who is Gazi Yaşargil?

Chosen as the Man of the Century by the American Association of Neurosurgeons in 1999, professor of teachers, and neurosurgeon of the century Prof. Dr. Mahmut Gazi Yaşargil was born on 6 July 1925 in the Lice district of Diyarbakır, where his father was the district governor. In the same year, the family settled in Ankara, and the five brothers went to schools in Ankara. He graduated from Ankara High School for Boys in 1943.

"My brother İhsan's succumbing to typhoid fever due to the lack of medical facilities is one of the reasons that pushed us to study medicine," said Prof. Dr. Yaşargil says that he was interested in neurology and surgery as a result of reading a book translated and published by his neighbor Dr. Yusuf Şükrü Sarıbaş, Professor of Neurology and that he met neurology patients on his way to the hospital with Sarıbaş and decided to become a surgeon.

“The exemplary life and work discipline of our family friend, Professor of Neurology Yusuf Şükrü Sarıbaş in Ankara, had a great impact on my and my two brothers' medical education. I became a Professor of Neurosurgery. Erdem Yaşargil became Professor of General Surgery in Basel and Günay Yaşargil became Professor of Neurophysiology in Zurich, and they both have very special studies and inventions. We have all done successful studies at universities in Switzerland for many years.”

The financial aid required for the education of the five siblings was met with the sacrifices of the family: "My father lived with a dress and a shoe all his life, he taught 5 children under those conditions, 3 of them were doctors."

Neither Gazi Yaşargil nor his siblings were given a scholarship from the state. The news on the internet about this is not true.

“Hasan Ali Yücel came to me in July 1943 and said, “Gazi Bey, Can tell me that you have decided to go to Vienna. I will also send Can to England. Please convince him." I convinced myself, I just showed the way. But neither of us was given a scholarship. We both went abroad with the means of our family. He was a very good friend of mine.”

He responds to Can Yücel's statement about the Piri Reis of the brain: “I researched the brain in the same way as the world was researched and discovered. We met with Can in 1940 in the classical branch. There used to be literature, science, and a classic in high school. We were told that we will learn Latin, we will learn Greek if we go to Europe, and the university there will always ask for Latin. I learned Latin for 3 years. I entered that class. There was also Can in that class. We were a small group. You wouldn't have guessed at that time, he was tiny. He had a very delicate build. He never told us that he wrote poetry. We never knew. There were people in our class who supposedly wrote other poems. He never wanted to open his mouth and say that he wrote poetry.”

Towards the end of the Second World War, he continued his education in Basel, Switzerland, and graduated in 1949. In 1953, he started his neurosurgery assistantship with Prof Dr. Hugo Krayenbühl in Zurich. Yaşargil, who focused his studies on cerebral vessels and angiography between 1953-1964, went to the USA in 1965 to work in the capillary laboratory. He returned to Zurich in 1967 after researching the possibilities of intervention in cerebral vessels under the microscope for 14 months. As he successfully applies microsurgery techniques in his surgeries, his fame spreads around the world. Gazi Hodja, who revolutionized neurosurgery with his surgery and research, was given the honorific title in 1973 and retired in 1993.

At the age of 68, he accepts an offer from Istanbul and makes preparations, but it turns out that according to the law, he is a deserter. Finally, he accepts the offer of the USA and heads to Arkansas with his beloved wife, right-hand man Dianne.

“My wife Dianne and I have been a good couple for years. She is a completely different Englishman. She loves Turks endlessly, she likes them very much. She has been the chief of European Neurosurgery Nurses for 8 years, she is very successful in her profession. They have their own creations in my surgeries, we do a very good duet together. Unfortunately, the value of the nurse is still underestimated in the world.”

Explaining that each person's brain consists of 150-200 chambers and each chamber produces different thoughts, Yaşargil says: “Brain diseases also affect a room. The rest stays in place. The brain is both trying to perceive space and trying to split the atom. We make every decision with 51 percent. Only when we are in love do we decide 100 percent? It's a chemical deal. Sometimes a look is a lightning fast. Then how is it that the big brain, a hundred billion cells suddenly becomes astonished? People forget everything. One cell goes, billions of cells go after it.”

“One of my daughters is a literature professor, my son is an artist. He creates works, he paints. One of my daughters also works at the hospital. We have 6 grandchildren. One of them became a lawyer and lives in Zurich, thank God. The other is about to be a doctor. One of them was in the last year of high school, and I wanted his brothers to go to neurosurgery, but he wanted to study philosophy.”

“I don't drink, I don't smoke. I get up at 06.30 every morning and go to bed at around 22.30-23.00 in the evening. I'm careful not to overeat. I have a good breakfast in the morning. Since I am in surgery many times in the afternoon, I eat something light. In the evenings, I eat mostly fruit, salads, and light meals. I love community life, meeting people, sitting down, and discussing, but we don't have time for that. If a decent life is lived, if our genes help, a long life can be sustained. It's good to work. It is good to work constantly, to keep the brain open. I recommend you to read the various topics.”

Pointing out the importance of a healthy diet, Yaşargil says: “I absolutely do not accept alcohol and cigarettes. Our Prophet said, "You will wake up half hungry and half full". That's a good word. “Don't over-tummy,” he says. Even animals don't eat much. We have to be careful. It will not be too oily, honeyed, or sugary. Thousands of diseases arise from it.”

“What would you recommend to keep the mind young?” Asked Yaşargil, he said, “It is in the genes that nature has donated to you. We have very good memories in our family. To keep him well, I read literature, philosophy, and history, not just my profession. You will get into various topics, as if you are training the brain, not one-sided. The brain likes it,” he says.