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Prof. Atilla YILMAZ, MDStereotactic and functional neurosurgeon

Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, head tremor, dystonia and Holmes tremor — and neuromodulation for obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, spasticity and chronic pain. Practising in İstanbul, Türkiye; teaching worldwide.

Request a DBS candidacy review About Prof. YILMAZ

Prof. Atilla YILMAZ, MD, stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon, İstanbul

26Years in medicine
800+DBS surgeries
1,200+Neuromodulation cases
60+Countries
40+Fellows trained
6Countries’ first DBS

Prof. Atilla YILMAZ, MD is a Turkish stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon based in İstanbul. He is Head of the Neuromodulation Center at Medicana Ataşehir International Hospital and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Istanbul Health and Technology University. He has performed more than 800 deep brain stimulation procedures for patients from more than 60 countries, is President of the Middle-Eastern Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, and sits on the boards of the WSSFN, ESSFN and the International Neuromodulation Society.

What Prof. YILMAZ does

A functional neurosurgeon does not remove disease — he modulates the electrical behaviour of circuits that have stopped working correctly. Almost all of this practice is neuromodulation, and most of it is deep brain stimulation.

Movement disorders Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, head tremor, dystonia, Holmes tremor and rare tremor syndromes treated with STN, GPi, VIM and PSA/cZi stimulation. Psychiatric indications DBS for treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depression, managed with a psychiatry-led multidisciplinary board. Pain and spasticity Spinal cord stimulation, sacral neuromodulation, intrathecal baclofen therapy and vagus nerve stimulation.

A described surgical technique

Prof. YILMAZ and colleagues published a double-target approach in which the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) and the posterior subthalamic area (PSA) are stimulated through the same electrode trajectory, for tremor syndromes that respond poorly to a single target. The series was published in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery with Patric Blomstedt (Umeå).

Read about the research

Academic and society roles

Society leadership President of MSSFN; President of the Turkish Chapter of the International Neuromodulation Society; board member of WSSFN, ESSFN, SEESSFN and INS; WFNS Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Committee member. Teaching and proctoring 40+ fellows trained from 30 countries; neuromodulation programmes established in several countries; cadaver courses and live-surgery courses directed in İstanbul. Publications Peer-reviewed research in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Neurological Sciences, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, Spine and others; reviewer for Neuromodulation, World Neurosurgery and Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. Invited lectures Faculty and invited speaker at WSSFN, ESSFN, INS, WFNS and national society meetings across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa.

Are you or a family member considering DBS?

The first question is not where to have surgery — it is whether surgery is the right answer at all. Prof. YILMAZ reviews reports and medication-ON / medication-OFF videos personally and gives a written, honest opinion, including when the answer is no.

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