Prof. Dr. Tarık Zafer Nursal

Prof. Dr. Tarık Zafer Nursal is a General Surgery specialist at Acibadem Atasehir Hospital in İstanbul, where he works within the Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery and General Surgery units. His subspecialty interests are Obesity Surgery and Robotic Surgery, and his practice covers breast conditions, obesity, surgical oncology, thyroid surgery, and inguinal hernia. He has more than 33 years of experience in medicine.

Dr. Nursal graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 1993 and completed his specialty training at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of General Surgery in 1999. He then joined Başkent University Dr. Turgut Noyan Training and Research Hospital in Adana as a General Surgery Specialist, where he was appointed Assistant Associate Professor in 2002, Associate Professor (Doç. Dr.) in 2005, and Professor in 2014. Between 2009 and 2012 he served as Chief Physician and Head of the Department of General Surgery at Private Medline Hospital in Adana, before returning to Başkent University Dr. Turgut Noyan Training and Research Hospital from 2012 to 2017. He also completed an associate degree in Health Care Management at Anadolu University, Open Education Faculty (2009–2011). He has been associated with Acıbadem Healthcare Services since 2018 and, in 2021, was Head of the Department of General Surgery at Private Emsey Hospital in İstanbul. He is a member of the European Hernia Association, the Turkish Surgical Association, KEPAN, the Turkish Cancer Research Foundation, the European Endoscopic Surgery Association, the National Surgical Infection Association, the Çukurova Breast Diseases Association, the National Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgery Association, and the National Hernia Association.

Clinical focus

A significant part of Dr. Nursal’s work involves breast diseases, including the evaluation of breast cysts, breast screening, and the surgical management of breast cancer. His published work in this area includes studies on seroma cytology in breast cancer, the role of PET/CT in early breast cancer, and the relationship between patients’ psychological status and short-term outcomes after mastectomy. He also treats patients with obesity, offering obesity surgery within the Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery unit, and has co-authored research on cardiac rhythm assessment after bariatric surgery.

His practice further includes surgical oncology, thyroid surgery, and inguinal hernia repair. Robotic surgery is used where it is considered appropriate for the individual patient. Other publications by Dr. Nursal address surgery in patients receiving warfarin, immunonutrition in surgery, pancreaticojejunostomy technique, and arteriovenous fistula creation for hemodialysis.

How Dr. Nursal works with international patients

Dr. Nursal 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 MRI, CT, X-ray 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 consultation is available for international patients who wish to discuss their case before traveling.