Patient Experience
My 82-year-old mother, Ayşe, developed a sudden, severe tremor in her left hand that progressed to weakness. Local clinics dismissed it as 'old age.' Dr. Bozkurt at Acibadem Maslak was our last hope. He didn't just look at scans; he watched her pour a glass of water. He diagnosed a rare, non-malignant thalamic lesion compressing a motor pathway. His approach was revolutionary: a minimally conscious sedation during the stereotactic biopsy, so he could talk to her mid-procedure, testing her movement in real-time. She called him 'the surgeon who held my hand while inside my brain.' The tremor is gone. He gave us back our matriarch, her dignity intact. This wasn't just surgery; it was neurological artistry.
Our 7-year-old son, Deniz, had relentless headaches for months. MRI revealed a pineal region tumor—a parent's worst nightmare. Dr. Bozkurt explained the intricate venous anatomy around it using a 3D model he printed from Deniz's own scans. 'We will go through this corridor,' he said, pointing to a tiny safe passage. The surgery lasted 9 hours. He emerged not with exhaustion, but with focused calm, showing us before/after images. But what truly stunned us was the follow-up. Deniz is obsessed with space. Dr. Bozkurt didn't just ask about symptoms; he quizzed him on planet names and made his post-op checkups feel like a mission debrief. He healed the child, not just the patient.
I'm a 45-year-old long-distance runner. A 'routine' checkup for occasional numbness led to a shocking discovery: an incidental, asymptomatic but large anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Dr. Bozkurt presented options with brutal, necessary honesty. He chose a pterional craniotomy for complete clipping, arguing it offered the most durable cure for an active life. The pre-op ritual was unique: he asked for my running playlist. In the OR, they played it. He said, 'Your brain needs familiar, positive stimuli.' Recovery was grueling, but his team used a neuro-mapping app I had to complete daily. At my 6-month follow-up, he cleared me to run with one condition: 'Send me a photo from your first marathon finish line.' I did. He framed it.
Emergency transfer at 2 AM with a spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage. I was the patient, a 58-year-old engineer, but I remember flashes: the vertigo, the vomiting, the terror. Dr. Bozkurt was there immediately, his assessment a rapid-fire series of precise questions and coordination tests. He bypassed the standard wait-and-see protocol. 'The pressure is building. We go now.' The surgery was a suboccipital craniectomy to evacuate the hematoma. He later explained he used a technique that preserved the cerebellar tonsils, critical for my balance and fine motor control. His post-op visits were engineering reviews of my neural 'circuitry.' He didn't just save my life; he preserved my ability to draft, to build, to create. My brain is his masterpiece.