Prof.Dr. Yalçın Karakoca

Prof.Dr. Yalçın Karakoca

I was born on February 8, 1967 in Ankara.

I graduated from Ankara High School in 1984 and started to attend Hacettepe Faculty of Medicine.

I graduated in 1992. I started my career as a research assistant at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases. During my specialization period, I received Therapeutic Bronchoscopy training in Dortmund Hemer Lungen Clinic in Germany and Marseille Cancer Laser Center in France.

I completed my pulmonology residency in 1996 and became Associate Professor of Chest Diseases in 1998.

In 1999, together with my teacher Prof. Dr. Izzettin Barış, I established Turkey’s first Interventional Bronchoscopy Center, supported by Kocaeli Municipality.

In 2001, I established the Therapeutic Bronchoscopy Center in Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, with the protocol signed by the Rectorate of Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine and Kocaeli Municipality. I performed endobronchial treatments in that center for two years.

In 2002, I established the Therapeutic Bronchoscopy Unit at Maltepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases and continued as the Head of Chest Diseases Department.

I organized the first Applied Therapeutic Bronchoscopy Symposium in Turkey with Prof. Dr. Jean F. Dumon, who is the founder of Therapeutic Bronchoscopy in the world and my teacher, in 2003. We introduced the endobronchial treatment practices to the Chest Diseases specialists who participate the congress from all over the country, and started a process for the dissemination of this treatment method.

In 2005, I established my own R&D laboratory. With my studies, I developed the medical devices and techniques I needed in interventional bronchoscopy. In the field of Therapeutic Bronchoscopy, I worked on the treatment methods of bronchial obstruction, especially in COPD, asthma, PETS and lung cancer caused by smoking, and developed the medical devices used in these treatments and presented them to the service of world medicine.

I received an award at the World Bronchology Congress held in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, with the resector balloon technique I developed as a result of my R&D studies in 2008.

I created a group of devices that can be used in therapeutic bronchoscopy under the name Karakoca, with the Karakoca reverse forceps, Karakoca leak prevention tube, Karakoca resector balloon pump and Karakoca Stent, whose patents are also mine. My work has been published in prestigious international journals. I am still continuing my scientific studies. I have certificates obtained from internatioanl clinics and congresses in the fields related to my branch, especially in respiratory physiology, sleep disorders, mechanical ventilation, interventional bronchoscopy, thoracoscopy and laser in the treatment of lung cancer. I have about 30 internationally published and about 10 articles in publication stage, I have chapter authorship in 3 books, I have over 90 scientific publications and 14 patents.

I developed technical and medical devices bearing my own name and made patent applications. Later, I shared my developed methods with other chest doctors around the world in America, Japan, South Korea, Hungary, Germany, Canada, Spain, France, England, Bulgaria and Albania. I received invitations from 12 different universities in the USA, and within 3 months in 2008, I explained my techniques and taught my American colleagues at meetings held in these universities, including cancer centers such as Stanford, Cleveland, Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins, MD Anderson, LA, Duke and FOX. I organized workshops for my colleagues who came from Germany, England, France and Italy to receive training on my Resector Balloon and COPD Balloon operations.

I became a chest diseases professor in 2004.

I am the first pulmonologist to apply therapeutic bronchoscopy, which has a special place in the branch of Chest Diseases, as a standard treatment method in our country. I had the chance to show that a patient with obstructed upper lobe bronchus due to lung cancer can be recanalized, a patient with postintubation tracheal stenosis can be fully opened without the use of laser or stent, and that a patient with asthma and COPD, whose bronchi are severely obstructed, and who is a candidate for lung transplantation, can be treated. I founded the Association of Interventional Pulmonology to share with my colleagues the treatment methods I have developed in the field of therapeutic bronchoscopy and to provide training. I give hands-on training to my colleagues who want to, through workshops I do once a week. I am trying to develop projects with global companies in order to deliver the medical devices related to the treatments I have developed to other chest diseases specialists around the world. Meeting with therapeutic bronchoscopy is the turning point of my professional life. I always remember with respect and gratitude my teacher, Prof. Dr. İzzettin Barış, who guided me to this field and supported me throughout my education process. Rest in Peace…