Department Introduction

The Department of Chest Diseases was established in 1994 by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Akkaya. There are currently 4 faculty members and 13 research assistants working in our department. In our clinic, 20 Chest Diseases specialists have been trained so far.

The study fields of the department:

a)      Asthma and allergy

b)      Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

c)      Lung cancer and treatment

d)      Cigarette cessation treatment

e)      Breath-related sleep disorders and the other sleep disorders

Our department is still working according to the following units

1- Department Service: The clinic has 22 beds and there is a sleep laboratory, pulmonary function tests laboratory, and a unit where interventional procedures are performed.

a-    Pulmonary Function Tests Laboratory: All pulmonary function tests such as measurement of all lung capacities, static and dynamic volumes, reversibility, helium gas, and carbon monoxide diffusion capacity are measured and reported according to international standards.

b-    Interventional Procedures Unit: In this unit, pleural biopsies and thoracentesis procedures are applied for the diagnosis of pleural diseases.

c-    Sleep Disorders Center: Sleep apnea is the cessation of breathing during sleep. In recent years, the importance of this issue has been understood and its incidence in Turkey is between l-5%. Snoring during sleep, and daytime sleepiness are common symptoms, and weight gain, and snoring increase with the use of alcohol. These patients have difficulty concentrating on a task, daytime sleepiness, and falling asleep while driving can lead to serious traffic accidents resulting in death. Also, serious complications such as cardiovascular diseases can be seen in these patients. Polysomnograph Laboratory (sleep laboratory) is necessary for the definitive diagnosis. Patients are hospitalized overnight, and sleep stages, arousal, respiratory exertion, airflow, electrocardiography, electromyograph, electroencephalography, and oxygen saturation records are taken. In patients who are diagnosed with sleep apnea and need CPAP, titration is performed with an additional study. There are 4 responsible faculty members in this laboratory. Technicians make polysomnograph recordings of patients.

2- The outpatient clinic of the Chest Diseases Department

a-    The outpatient clinic: It is the unit where all lung diseases (asthma-COPD-lung cancer-sleep disorders-interstitial lung diseases-pneumonia) are diagnosed and treated. There are the following units in the outpatient clinic.

i- Asthma and Allergy: Regular follow-up of asthma patients, regulation of treatments, and diagnostic procedures are applied. Patient education, including the correct use of inhaler drugs, is one of the important services of this polyclinic.

Services Provided in Asthma-Allergy Unit

a)      Outpatient clinic

b)      Inpatient follow-up

c)      Allergy skin tests (prick test, intradermal test, patch tests)

d)      Drug tests (skin tests, provocation tests)

e)      Education of the patient and his/her family

f)       Drug use patterns

g)      Methods of protection from allergens

h)      Information on allergic diseases

i)       Immunotherapy (Vaccine therapy)

ii_COPD: Regular follow-up of patients with COPD is one of the most important factors in the control of this disease. In this outpatient clinic, each patient is regularly monitored under the supervision of a doctor, and lung functions, exercise capacity, oxygenation, general health status, nutritional status, additional diseases, and complications, if any, are evaluated. Patient education, including the correct use of inhaler drugs, is one of the important services of this polyclinic.

iii- Smoking Cessation Outpatient Clinic: In addition to pharmacotherapy, the Smoking Cessation Outpatient Clinic offers an individual cessation program to the applicants. The program consists of personal awareness, support, and regular follow-up of the process with drug treatment when necessary, which enables people who want to quit smoking to achieve and maintain this. Here, four experienced chest disease specialists conduct individual interviews with the applicants every week. After regular follow-up during the first 3 months of cessation, regular follow-up is maintained to prevent this in the first 1 year when resumption rates are high.

b-Bronchoscopy Unit: Bronchoscopy is the most commonly used invasive diagnostic method of chest medicine. Bronchoscopy is an endoscopic examination method in which the airways are examined directly and cytological and pathological samples are taken. It is used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We have a video-monitored fiberoptic bronchoscopy kit for diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. And all kinds of bronchoscopic interventions (observation, bronchoscopic aspiration, lavage, bronchoalveolar lavage, brushing, mucosal biopsy, trans-bronchial biopsy, transmural needle aspiration, foreign body removal) are performed by us.

a)       EBUS (Endobronchial Ultrasonography): It is the process of examining both the airway wall and the structures outside the airway and the lung with a probe sent from the working channel of the bronchoscope after entering the airways with the EBUS bronchoscope device. It is accepted among invasive interventions. Diagnosis of lung cancer (determination of the depth of invasion of tumor in the airway), diagnosis of the peripheral intrapulmonary lesion, and lymph node staging can be performed with the EBUS procedure.

‍Prof.Dr. Ahmet AKKAYA

‍Prof.Dr. Münire ÇAKIR

Prof.Dr. Önder ÖZTÜRK

Prof.Dr. Ahmet AKKAYA

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Rezan DEMİRALAY

‍Tel: +90 246 2119197