Radiation Oncology
Establishment of the department
Higher education institution approved the establishment of the department in May 1987, and the department started to accept students in 1993.
Heads of department
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Prof. Dr. İbrahim Egehan 1991 - 1995
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Prof. Dr. Şaban Çakır Gökçe 1995 - 2006
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Prof. Dr. Nilgün Özbek Okumuş 2006 -
History of the department
he establishment of department of Radiation Oncology was startedin 1991 by Dr.Med.İbrahim Egehan.Later treatment started in December 1992 with the participation of Dr. Med. Şaban Çakır and Medical Physicist Tenzile Yaşayacak.The first assistants started in 1993.Dr. Med. İbrahim Egehan was the head of the department until July 1995.The heads of the department are Dr İbrahim Egehan (1991-1995), Dr Şaban Çakır (1995-2006) and Dr. Med.Nilgün Özbek Okumuş (2006 to present), respectively.To faculty members; Dr. Med.Bilge Gürsel in 2002, Dr. Med.Deniz Meydan in 2003 and Dr. Med.Alparslan Serarslan in 2017 were added.
Theoretical structure and academic purpose of the department
Radiation Oncology is a medical discipline that requires special expertise in the therapeutic use of ionizing radiation and deals with the creation, preservation and dissemination of information regarding the etiology, treatmentand prevention of cancer and related diseases. Radiation Oncology is a discipline consisting of the combination of physics and biology.Additionally, Radiation Oncology deals with the basic principles of cancer biology, the biological interaction of radiation with normal and malignant tissues, and the investigation of the physical basis of radiation applied for treatment purposes.Radiation Oncology as a field of expertise deals with clinical care, scientific research, and training of specialists in this discipline.The main objectives of our department are to train scientists in this direction, to deal with the problems of the branch of science, to treat and follow up mostly malignant and sometimes benign diseases with ionizing radiation alone or in combination with other treatment models in a multidisciplinary approach.
Department interactions with national and international academic institutions
1.Radiation Oncology Departments of other universities in our country
2.Turkish Radiation Oncology Association
3.European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO)
4.National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
5.Radiotherapy and Oncology Group (RTOG)
Radiation Oncology Department Physicians
Specialist physicians
Prof. Dr. Nilgün ÖZBEK OKUMUŞ (Head of Department)
Prof.Dr.ŞükriyeBilge GÜRSEL
Associate Prof.Dr.Ahmet Deniz MEYDAN
Assistant Prof. Dr. Alparslan SERARSLAN
Assistant physicians
Dr. Mert Büyükulaş
Dr. Rana Elif Yıldız
Dr. Şevval Alan
Dr. Esra İrem Coşğun
Dr. Dilara Ramazanoğlu
Dr. Alev Kılınç Kotan
Dr. Büşra Öztürk
Dr. Alperen Mehmet Sivrikaya
Radiotherapy physicists
Dr. Lecturer Telat Aksu
Lecturer Yalçın Daştan
Expert Seher Tezcan
Expert Damla Kaman
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is defined as the treatment of cancerous tissue or some benign tumors with radiation. The rays used in radiotherapy are used to stop the growth of cancer cells in the treated area or to kill those cells.
Radiotherapy team
The radiotherapy team consists of a radiation oncologist, a radiotherapy physicist, a radiotherapy technician and a nurse.
Preparation before radiotherapy
Preparation before radiotherapy consists of successive stages. In the first stage, the extent of the disease is determined (staging) according to the diagnosis of the patient who applied to our clinic. In the second stage, the patient is evaluated by the council of the relevant departments and treatment planning is made. After the treatment planning is decided, an appointment is made for simulation, which is the last stage thatmust be done before radiotherapy.
Simulation
Simulation is the process of determining the areas to be irradiated by meeting the conditions in the treatment machine. The simulation is performed with a computed tomography (CT) simulator machine. The CT simulator used in our clinic has a respiratory monitoring system and has the ability to take (four-dimensional-4D) images by monitoring the patient's breathing. In this way, respiration-controlled radiotherapy planning can be made. While tumor control rates increase in treatments performed with respiration-controlled radiotherapy, side effects related to radiotherapy are less common. The patient who comes to our clinic for simulation is greeted by the CT simulator technician. After the necessary information isgiven, simulation is performed under the supervision of a radiation oncologist. The patient should not move during the simulation. For this reason, personalized masks and beds are prepared to restrict the patient's movement. After the procedure, the partsof the body to be treated are marked with special pens. It is important to maintain this marking until and during treatment. After the simulation process is completed, the patient's radiotherapy planning phase begins.
Radiotherapy planning
Radiotherapy planning is done with cross-sectional images from the CT simulator. In the first stage of radiotherapy planning, after the radiation oncology specialist determines the structures that should and should not receive radiation and the dose, radiotherapy dose calculations are made by the radiotherapy physicist. Radiotherapy planning takes approximately one week. The patient, whose radiotherapy planning is completed, is called for treatment.
Application of radiotherapy
Radiotherapy can be applied both externallyor internally (brachytherapy). Treatment machines are located in thick-walled rooms specially constructed to prevent radiation spread to the environment. The treatment machines are managed from a control room outside where the radiotherapy technician sits. There is a closed circuit camera system that monitors the patient during the treatment and a sound system that allows mutual conversation. After the patient is taken to the treatment room, he is prepared in the changing rooms, leaving the treatment fieldopen, accompanied by a radiation oncologist and radiotherapy technician, and laid on the treatment table. Finally, after the treatment field is approved by the radiation oncologist, radiotherapy physicist and radiotherapy technician, the team leaves the radiotherapy room and the radiation application (irradiation) process begins. The patient does not feel anything during the treatment. The treatment usually takes approximately 10-15 minutes.
External radiotherapy
External radiotherapy is the application ofradiation from outside the body. There are a total of twolinear accelerator machines for external radiotherapy in our clinic. And,modern conformal radiotherapy techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric intensity-modulated radiotherapy (VMAT), stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) can be applied.
Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy means "close treatment" in Latin. It is applied by placing radioactive sources directly into organs and body cavities or tissue. Specially produced tools (applicator) are used to place these sources. In our clinic, we have a high-dose rate brachytherapy machinethat provides outpatient treatment for brachytherapy and allows three-dimensional planning.
Our external radiotherapy machines
1-VARIAN TRUEBEAM
2-VARIAN HALCYON
Our brachytherapy machine
VARIAN GammaMedplusiX HDR/PDR
Communication
Address: Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Oncology Hospital, Ondokuz Mayıs University, ATAKUM –SAMSUN.
Tel: +90. 362.312 1919Internal: 6700 and 6701