Patient Experience
My 8-year-old daughter, Elif, was terrified of medical settings after a previous bad experience. We needed a detailed abdominal ultrasound for persistent pain. Dr. Mehmet Yörubulut was a revelation. Before even turning on the machine, he spent ten minutes talking to her about her favorite cartoon characters, showing her the gel and calling it 'magic ultrasound jelly.' He explained every step in a story-like way, calling the probe a 'camera looking for sleepy butterflies' in her tummy. His patience was infinite. He found a minor, benign mesenteric lymph node enlargement, but the real miracle was that Elif left smiling, asking when we could visit the 'doctor with the funny machine' again. He transformed fear into curiosity.
As a 74-year-old with a complex cardiac history, my aortic aneurysm monitoring always filled me with dread. Last month, during my routine CT angiography at Ankara Hospital Acibadem, Dr. Yörubulut noticed a subtle, atypical progression pattern that everyone else might have categorized as 'stable.' He didn't just read the scan; he interrogated it. He called my cardiologist during my appointment, put him on speaker, and the three of us had a technical discussion about flow dynamics and wall stress. Dr. Yörubulut advocated for a more frequent surveillance schedule based on hemodynamic markers, not just size. It wasn't a simple report; it was a collaborative, pre-emptive strategy session. He sees the physics of disease, not just the pictures.
I was the emergency on-call orthopedic surgeon for a nasty multi-vehicle collision. We had a young man with a shattered pelvis and suspected vascular injury. Time was muscle, and life. We needed a CTA run-off, stat. Dr. Yörubulut, who I later learned had come in from home, took control of the chaos. His instructions to the techs were calm, precise, and based on the specific injury mechanism I described. The images he produced weren't just diagnostic; they were procedural roadmaps. He pointed out a tiny contrast blush from a obturator artery branch I would have missed, allowing for targeted embolization before we even rolled into the OR. He didn't just provide images; he provided actionable, life-saving intelligence under immense pressure.
My follow-up visit was for a supposedly 'straightforward' MRI to clear a lumbar spine issue before a marathon. Dr. Yörubulut's review was anything but routine. Instead of just confirming the healed disc bulge, he spent extra time scrolling through the entire field of view. He found an incidental, early-stage renal lesion—a tiny speck. With no alarm, he explained the statistical probabilities, the imaging characteristics suggesting it was likely benign, and crafted a minimalist, evidence-based monitoring plan to absolutely rule out any concern without unnecessary intervention. He turned an incidentaloma from a source of potential anxiety into a masterclass in rational, patient-centered radiology. He looks at the whole person, even when the referral is for a single body part.