Patient Experience
I was terrified when they found a 4.5cm liver hemangioma during a routine scan for my gallbladder. At 72, everyone told me 'just monitor it' but the discomfort was real. Prof. Dr. Ali Özgen didn't see just a scan, he saw me, a grandmother who couldn't sleep on her right side anymore. He explained uterine fibroid embolization principles adapted for my case with such patience, using my grandson's sponge toys to demonstrate how the procedure would 'deflate' the mass. The embolization was painless, and within weeks, the dragging sensation vanished. His team even called my daughter to explain the post-procedure care in simple terms. He treats the person, not just the image on the screen.
Our 8-year-old son, Leo, has a rare vascular malformation in his jaw that bled unpredictably. After three failed sclerotherapy attempts elsewhere, we met Prof. Özgen. He didn't just review the files; he got on the floor with Leo before the consultation even started, talking about dinosaurs. He pioneered a combined approach under ultrasound fusion guidance that he called 'painting the dragon.' The procedure lasted minutes, not hours. Leo woke up asking for ice cream, not crying. Six months later, the malformation is regressing. Dr. Özgen's waiting room has toys, but his real magic is how he makes terrifying pediatric interventions feel like a shared adventure. He gave our boy his childhood back.
Mid-hike in Aydos Forest, I developed sudden, crippling abdominal pain. Rushed to Medical Park Göztepe's ER, a CT revealed a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm, I was bleeding internally. Within 20 minutes, Prof. Dr. Özgen was in the angio suite, calm as morning coffee. He explained, while prepping, that he could save my spleen with microcoils instead of open surgery. I remember his voice through the sedation: 'Three tiny catheters, like threading needles in a storm.' He succeeded. The 2mm incision in my groin healed in days. His emergency intervention wasn't just technically brilliant; it was profoundly human. He visited me twice daily, each time explaining what the follow-up scans showed. He turned a potential catastrophe into a story of precision and grace.
As a 45-year-old with polycystic kidney disease, I faced years of draining large, painful renal cysts every few months. It was a debilitating cycle. Prof. Özgen proposed a novel, permanent solution: CT-guided percutaneous ablation of the cyst walls to prevent recurrence. What struck me was his collaborative approach; he showed me the 3D reconstruction of my own kidneys and explained the physics of the thermal ablation like a fascinated engineer. The procedure itself was oddly peaceful, he played classical music and narrated each step. It's been 18 months, and not a single cyst has refilled. He doesn't just perform procedures; he designs elegant, long-term solutions for chronic conditions. My follow-up visits feel like checking in with a master architect who built me a new foundation.