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May 28, 2008 Ms. Rebecca Botaitis, a valued RTT of our Department, visited the land of one of our international colleagues, Alpaslan "Alp" Mayadagli at the Kartal Hastanesi Medical Center Istanbul, Turkey. Her is Rebecca's summary of her enjoyable trip. >> Photos of Istanbul Trip
Dear Friends in Radiation Medicine,
I have just returned from an exceptional visit with Dr. Alpaslan Mayadagli in Istanbul, Turkey. My husband, John, and I are traveling and decided to take a brief tour of Istanbul. Dr. Alp kindly offered us a tour of his Radiation Medicine Department at his hospital, Kartal Egitim.
Dr. Alp is not only the head of his department, but for the last 2 ½ years he has been the director of the entire hospital. Within the radiation department, he employs 12 staff physicians, 3 residents, 5 physicists, 1 dosimetrist, and 18 radiation therapists, as well as other personnel. They have 4 treatment machines: one cobalt that primarily treats palliative cases, a Varian with 6x and 15x that does not have R&V or MLC, a Varian with MLC and Aria, and a Siemens also with R&V and MLC. There is also an old sim (similar to ours in the old dept) and a GE CT simulator. They also do brachy with Cesium. They use CMS and Eclipse planning systems. Currently they are treating 3D conformal only, but Dr. Alp is working very hard to bring IMRT to his unit.
Dr. Alp’s department treats 200 patients per day! The treatment day starts around 8a.m. and concludes at 10p.m. or midnight, depending on the patient load. The therapists work in 4 shifts, and one of the therapists that I talked to spends 3 hours of her day commuting to and from work.
Dr. Alp noted that his country has a much higher incidence of lung and H&N cancer due to smoking. Roughly half the population of Turkey smokes so many people develop cancer from primary and second-hand smoking. This directly correlates to life expectancy, which is age 65 to 70 in Turkey, compared with 77.8 years in the U.S. (reported by the CDC).
Dr. Alp was incredibly kind and generous. He and his beautiful wife, Yildiz, took us on a driving tour of the city up the Bosphorus and treated us to an amazing dinner literally right next to the water with a stunning view. He is planning to return to our department early this summer, so please ask him about his work and his city. His is doing some extraordinary things within his department, and he is a wonderful person.
Istanbul is a gorgeous city. Dr. Alp likened it to San Francisco, and John and I agree: It is on the water (the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, and the Sea of Marmara), and boasts bridges comparable to the Golden Gate. It is green with many trees and spread on rolling hills, hence one of its nicknames, The City on Seven Hills. The city is rich with history (Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, etc.) and many intriguing places to explore (Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace.). Istanbul also reminded me of New York City because of its size and the traffic problems; it is also exciting and constantly moving just like NYC.
Other interesting Istanbul facts:
It is the only city in the world that spans 2 continents: the western side is in Europe and the eastern side is in Asia. It is divided by the Bosphorus, which joins the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, which leads into the Mediterranean.
Istanbul has been the capital of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, but it isn’t the capital of modern-day Turkey (that would be Ankara).
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, with a population of 10 million people in the metro area (Compare that with Portland’s 2 million).
Changing liters to gallons and New Turkish Lira (YTL) to dollars, gas costs $9.41 per gallon!
I hope you enjoyed this glance at Istanbul. I really enjoying visiting the city, and I encourage everyone to go there if you can. >> Photos of Istanbul Trip
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