"Turkish Surgeon Established an Association for Patients and Relatives of Patients"


Sag in the chest (Shoemaker chest) or which causes it to bulge outward (pigeon chest) ‘deformiteleri off pectus surgery in the treatment of the patient and the surgeon now the Turkish Education Association for relatives of each other by establishing a “train” is aiming to. 

Marmara University Faculty of Medicine Department of Thoracic Surgery Head Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yuksel said that pectusdeformity treatments have become easier and given more successful results thanks to the latest technological developments and said, “We have applied the latest treatments clinically in about 500 thousand patients so far. At the moment, we are ahead of Greece and even the UK in this area, ” he said. 

REMOTE INSTANT NOTIFICATION 

Referring to the fact that 1 million people suffer from pectusdefromitis along with patients and their relatives, Prof. Dr. Yüksel emphasized that the need for a patient association arose from here and said, “There are about 320 thousand pectus patients in Turkey. Together with their families, this number exceeds 1 million. Now it will be possible for patients to find out in an easy way whether they have a chance of treatment before coming to the center where they can receive treatment. The main goal is to ensure that patients reach specialists as quickly as possible. In addition, former patients, experienced physicians and patient relatives on the association platform will be able to guide them by exchanging information with new patients and patient relatives.” 

"Patients will be able to access the latest developments in treatments instantly and will also receive psychological support from each other. It was impossible for thousands of our patients, who needed regular follow-up after treatment, to reach the outpatient clinics that we do one day a week, and to get detailed information about the disease in a 5-8 minute examination. Now they will be able to easily access this information from our association's website and phones or at meetings that will be held frequently. With the activities to be carried out by the association, patients and relatives of patients will be trained, pectus-trained specialists who will serve at the center will also provide 24-hour telephone information,”he said. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS ARE AHEAD 

Chest wall deformities are 6 times more common in men, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yuksel summarizes the problems experienced by patients as follows: “Pectus excavatum (inward depression) is seen once in 300 births, pectus carinatum (outward protrusion) is seen once in a thousand births. In the first, early fatigue and irregular heartbeat occur in 10 percent of patients due to pressure on the heart and lungs. However, at the beginning of the troubles experienced by all pectus patients, there are psychological negativities that occur due to physical appearance. In both patient groups, psychological disorders ranging from mild to severe, which occur especially in adolescence, are encountered. Children begin to live an introverted life, isolating themselves from society. This negatively affects everything from social life to educational life.”

DEVELOPED DOMESTIC-MADE STEEL BAR

Pectusdefromitis, in addition to the negative psychological effects caused by physical appearance, sometimes irregular pulse due to pressure on the heart leads to premature fatigue, various heart problems. Most pectus patients either did not know where to get treatment for years, or had difficulty accessing appropriate treatment. However, thanks to new surgical techniques and prostheses developed in recent years, these patients can now be successfully operated on and regain their normal appearance in a very short time. Moreover, Turkish surgeons have reached the level to teach pectus surgeries to the world.

 Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yüksel is among the few names not only in Turkey, but also in the world in terms of pectus Deciphermities. The inventor of surgical methods in this field, Nuss, and one of the names that has reached even more cases than Abramson, Prof. Dr. So far, Yüksel has received invitations from France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, South Africa, Portugal, Russia and Kuwait and has taught these techniques to his colleagues there. Moreover, Prof. Dr. Yüksel has introduced the “domestic made” prostheses to the world by developing the steel bars used in the treatment of shoemaker's chest completely by himself. Yuksel said, "American-made bars are usually used all over the world. On the one hand, we are trying to break this monopoly. The medical bars we have developed are more advantageous for both the surgeon and the patient,” he said.