Prof. Dr. Murat Urkan

Prof. Dr. Murat Urkan is a general surgeon who practices at Acibadem Bodrum Hospital and Acibadem Bodrum Outpatient Clinic in Muğla, Türkiye, within the General Surgery and Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery units. With more than 22 years in medicine, his surgical work covers digestive system diseases, colorectal and anorectal conditions, endocrine surgery, obesity surgery, hernia surgery and robotic surgery.

Dr. Urkan graduated from Gülhane Military Medical Academy Faculty of Medicine in 2004 and completed his General Surgery training at Gülhane Military Medical Academy in 2012. After early service as a general practitioner and as a Flight Physician at the Air Force Command 6th Main Jet Base (Balıkesir/Bandırma), he worked as a General Surgery Specialist at Eskişehir Military Hospital and as a Specialist Physician in the Air Force Command Logistics Department/Health Branch Directorate. In 2015 he served as GATA Organ and Tissue Transplantation Coordination Section Chief, followed by a period at the T.C Akdeniz University Organ Transplantation Center and at Gülhane Training and Research Hospital General Surgery Service, where he was Specialist Physician and Organ and Tissue Transplantation Coordinator. From 2019 he practiced at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Training and Research Hospital, becoming Associate Professor there in 2020 and serving as Responsible Specialist for Kidney Transplantation from 2021 to 2022, before joining the group in 2022. He is a member of the Turkish Surgical Association, the Turkish Colon and Rectal Surgery Association, the Hepatopankreotobilyer Association and the Ankara Breast Surgery Association, holds Basic Surgical Training Course Commission Membership, and serves on the editorial board of the Turkısh Journal of Colorectal Dısease.

Clinical focus

Dr. Urkan treats a range of gastrointestinal and colorectal conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer requiring surgery, and anorectal problems such as anal fissure and hemorrhoids. In obesity surgery, his procedures include gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. His endocrine practice centers on thyroid surgery and related endocrine procedures, and he also performs hernia surgery, endoscopy and robotic surgery. The suitability of any procedure is assessed individually, based on the patient’s diagnosis, general health and previous treatments.

He has contributed to peer-reviewed publications on topics such as prevention of intra-abdominal adhesions, comparison of TEP and Lichtenstein inguinal hernia repair, minimally invasive parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism, laparoscopic total mesocolic dissection for locally advanced right colon tumors, and the association between visceral obesity and colorectal cancer, in journals including the Turkish Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, Balkan Medical Journal and Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology.

How Dr. Urkan works with international patients

Dr. Urkan consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for other languages. The Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports and imaging, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy, CT, MRI or ultrasound reports, laboratory and pathology results, operative notes and discharge summaries, and arranges appointments and the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the patient’s history and symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination and a discussion of the available options. Video consultations are available for international patients who wish to discuss their case before traveling.