One leg removed in first quadruple transplant

ANKARA - Turkish surgeons were forced to remove one leg from a patient who had received the world's first quadruple transplant at a Turkish university hospital, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

The operation, which transplanted two arms and two legs of a deceased donor to the patient, began on Friday morning and ended on Saturday, Dr. Murat Tuncer, rector of Ankara-based Hacettepe University, was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"We were forced to remove the left leg as the patient's heart and vascular system could not sustain the limb," Dr. Murat Tuncer said, adding that the other leg and the two arms were in good shape.

The overall condition of the patient was stable, Tuncer said, adding that another patient who received a full face transplant on Saturday -- the second of such transplants in Turkey - was in good condition.

In January, the world's first triple transplant trial with two arms and one leg failed at the Mediterranean University Hospital in Turkey as the doctors had to remove the leg due to tissue incompatibility, said the report.