16.04.2025 17:20
The Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and Istanbul MP of the DEM Party, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was hospitalized due to a heart condition, was taken to intensive care following his surgery, and it has been reported that he remains in critical condition. Prof. Dr. Sağbaş, who performed Önder's surgery, stated, "There was both a dissection and a crisis affecting the right side of the heart. Therefore, it was a severe pathology."
It was reported that the Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and DEM Party Istanbul Deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder underwent a surgery with a very high risk to his life due to a heart condition that required hospitalization.
Prof. Dr. Çavlan Çiftçi, the Rector of Demiroğlu Science University, made a statement to the press waiting in front of the hospital regarding Önder's health condition after he was operated on at Istanbul Florence Nightingale Hospital. Çiftçi explained that Önder was brought to the hospital's emergency unit by 112 ambulance teams without a pulse, intubated, and accompanied by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He reported that spontaneous circulation was achieved after approximately 10 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the emergency department.
After the pulse was taken, an emergency echocardiography revealed a diagnosis of type 1 aortic dissection, Çiftçi stated, "Type 1 aortic dissection involves bleeding into all layers of the aorta, including the main aorta that exits the heart, the aortic arch, and the descending aorta. Subsequently, at 23:05, our patient experienced a rhythm disturbance again, and pulse and circulation stopped. The patient was urgently taken to the operating room, and the operation started at 23:35. Our operation lasted 12 hours." he expressed.
"ONE OF OUR LARGEST HEART SURGERY OPERATIONS"
Prof. Dr. Çiftçi reported that during the surgery, it was determined that the aortic dissection started from the right coronary artery and involved the entire aorta, and continued:
"A coronary bypass was performed on the right coronary artery in sequence, the aortic valve was replaced, and then grafting and anastomosis procedures were completed along the entire aorta. Unfortunately, this dissection starting from the right coronary also caused a small rupture and perforation, which we refer to as a rupture. This dissection, which affects the aorta and is classified as type 1, is one of our largest heart surgery operations. In fact, it is a surgery with a very high mortality rate and life-threatening risk. Again, due to the size of this dissection and its involvement of the right coronary artery that supplies blood to the heart, the patient had a contraction in the left ventricle while there was still no contraction in the right ventricle due to the dissection starting from the right coronary and the patient experiencing a right ventricular infarction. After all these procedures lasting nearly 12 hours, our patient was taken to the intensive care unit with ECMO support, which is a mechanical support device for heart circulation. He still maintains his life-threatening risk, and his treatment continues in the intensive care unit."
"HE COMPLAINED AND COLLAPSED"
Prof. Dr. Erkan Sağbaş, who performed Önder's surgery, stated that aortic dissection is one of the most challenging health issues to treat in heart surgery.
In this case, Sağbaş mentioned that the dissection started from the point where the main artery exits the heart and extended back to the aortic valve, saying, "The right coronary is one of the arteries that carries oxygen to the heart. The right coronary was trapped in the dissection, and there was also a slight tear at the mouth of the right coronary. This dissection blocked the mouth of the right coronary. Probably, one of the main reasons for Mr. Sırrı collapsing after complaining when he arrived at the emergency room was this." he stated.
"THERE WAS ALSO A CRISIS AFFECTING THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HEART"
Sağbaş noted, "Due to the dissection and the involvement of the right coronary, a heart attack was also added. So, there was both dissection and a crisis affecting the right side of the heart. Therefore, it was a severe pathology. We noticed this and immediately performed the bypass, corrected the aortic dissection and the aneurysm. However, since the heart was very battered and had taken a lot of hits, we let it rest a bit." he expressed.
HEART WAS RESTED AND BLEEDING CONTROL WAS PERFORMED
Sağbaş stated that the procedures were completed around 04:00 in the morning, but they rested the heart and performed bleeding control, indicating that the surgery took 11-12 hours. He mentioned that they had performed many dissection surgeries of this type before, but Önder's condition was one of the most complicated dissections he had seen in a long time. Sağbaş noted that they were very tired, saying, "You are performing surgery for 12 hours without losing your concentration; this is not an easy task."
Sağbaş explained that Önder had previously been diagnosed with aortic dilation, and his condition, which was not at the intervention threshold, was being monitored with medication.
"AORTA WAS PURPLE, RUPTURED AND DILATED"
Sağbaş described Önder's health condition when he was brought to the hospital, saying, "The aorta was purple, ruptured, and dilated. We took him to the operating table with massage, and we transitioned from the groin veins to the heart-lung machine with massage. Once the body circulation was relieved, we stopped the massage. The heart had stopped." he stated.
"REALLY IN A VERY CRITICAL POSITION"
Sağbaş emphasized that they performed the surgery with a large team specialized in aortic surgery, stating, "After this, it is not possible to talk about the long-term prognosis of a patient who is on ECMO, intubated, and receiving high doses of heart-supporting medication. We cannot say this will happen at this hour or today. We monitor our patient by evaluating real-time data and adjust his treatment accordingly. We observed some partial adjustments in certain parameters with ECMO, but our patient is really in a very critical position. We do not discuss long-term outcomes; it is not possible for us to say anything." he explained.
Meanwhile, the 11th President Abdullah Gül, CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan, some deputies from the DEM Party and CHP, and many visitors came to the hospital to get information about Önder's health condition.
Many local and foreign press members are also on duty in front of the hospital to report on the developments.