Türk Nöroşirürji Dergisi 2019 , Vol 29 , Num 2
A Life Dedicated to Pain Surgery: Prof. Dr. Yücel Kanpolat
Bülent BOYAR1
1Çukurova Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Beyin ve Sinir Cerrahisi Anabilim Dalı, Adana, Türkiye Dr. Yücel Kanpolat successfully presented the development of Turkish Functional Neurosurgery to the world. Dr. Kanpolat was born in 1941 and he earned his medical degree at Ankara University. He completed his neurosurgery training at the Neurosurgery Clinic of Ankara University between 1968 and 1973. He started to work as an assistant professor at the same clinic in 1975. He became an associate professor in 1978 and a professor in 1988. He served as the chairman of the Neurosurgery department between 1999 and 2008, until his retirement in 2008. He passed away on 17 September, 2016 in Ankara due to heart failure. He was a universally known neurosurgeon of pain surgery. He invented CT-guided spinal lesioning techniques such as cervical cordotomy, trigeminal tractotomy/nucleotomy and midline myelotomy. He designed a new cordotomy KIT (KCTE) in 1994. He contributed to the field of neurosurgery with 176 international publications included in the Index Medicus, 92 invited international lectures, 48 international oral presentations and 73 national publications. He received an international neurosurgery professorship title from two international universities. He was elected as the president of the Turkish Neurosurgical Society twice. Dr. Kanpolat was a member of EANS, WFFSN, ENS, WFNS and the editorial boards of many international journals. He was elected as the president of the Turkish Academy of Science between the years 2008 and 2012. Dr Kanpolat has always referred to as a very special surgeon who was an excellent role model for all the young neurosurgeons with his hard work and inventions in pain surgery. Anahtar Kelimeler : Pain surgery, Yücel Kanpolat