About
Information on Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım’s Education, Professional Experience, International Clinical Work, Academic Publications, and Medical Device Development Projects.
About Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım
Thoracic Surgeon & Lung Transplant Surgeon
Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım is a physician with clinical and academic experience in thoracic surgery, lung transplantation, and chest wall deformities. Throughout his career, in addition to treating patients, he has been involved in academic publishing, international clinical training, scientific peer review, and medical technology development.
His scientific work covers a range of areas, including lung transplantation, lung cancer and thoracic oncology, chest wall deformities such as pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum, minimally invasive thoracic surgery, airway obstruction, pleural diseases, mediastinal diseases, and chest trauma.
Education and Specialization in Thoracic Surgery
Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım was born in Diyarbakır in 1968. After graduating from Eskişehir Anatolian High School in 1986, he completed his medical education at Anadolu University Faculty of Medicine in 1992. He served as a general practitioner in Denizli in 1993.
He completed his specialty training in thoracic surgery at the Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Center in Istanbul and the Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Center in Ankara, becoming a thoracic surgery specialist in 1998.
In 2000, he continued his career at the Thoracic Surgery Clinic of Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital. During his time there, he began working as chief resident, also known as senior specialist, in 2001. In 2007, he successfully completed the scientific dossier stage of the associate professorship examination in thoracic surgery.
International Clinical Training and Experience
He completed international training and observership programs at:
- the University of Zurich in 2002,
- the University of Toronto in 2007-2008,
- the University of Leuven in 2010,
- Kyoto University in 2012.
These programs gave him the opportunity to observe different healthcare systems, thoracic surgery practices, and international surgical protocols firsthand. His experience in Toronto and Kyoto in particular contributed to his academic work on lung transplantation and living-donor lung transplantation.
Work in Lung Transplantation
From 2007 to 2008, Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım worked as a lung transplantation fellow in the Toronto Lung Transplant Program at the University of Toronto.
During this time, he actively participated in 85 lung transplant recipient operations and nearly 100 donor organ procurement procedures. He took part in four clinical research studies conducted within the Toronto Lung Transplant Program and carried out one of them as his own scientific project.
- Evaluation of lung donors,
- Lung donation after cardiac death,
- Living-donor lobar lung transplantation,
- Combined lung transplantations,
- Lung volume reduction surgical techniques,
- Surgical techniques in lung transplantation
His experience in the Toronto program is also reflected in international scientific publications and conference presentations.
Academic Publications and Scientific Work
Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım has authored scientific articles published in national and international peer-reviewed journals, papers presented at international and national congresses, and book chapters in the field of thoracic surgery.
- Lung transplantation and donor evaluation
- Lung cancer and thoracic oncology
- Chest wall deformities
- Pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum surgery
- Minimally invasive thoracic surgery and VATS
- Surgical management of acute airway obstruction
- Pleural effusion and pleurodesis
- Mediastinal diseases and mediastinal masses
- Chest trauma
- Pneumothorax
- Esophageal surgery
- Video-assisted thoracic approaches in spinal surgery
- International Publications
- International Meeting Presentations
- National Publications
- National Congress Presentations
- Book Chapters
Scientific Peer Review
He has reviewed scientific articles for the Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. His peer review work involves evaluating scientific research in terms of methodology, clinical validity, academic ethics, and publication standards.
Medical Device Development and Patent Work
He has collaborated with researchers in Biomedical Engineering at Boğaziçi University on technical systems for preparing the pectus bars used in the surgical treatment of chest wall deformities.
Automatic Pectus Bar Bender
The metal pectus bars used in pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum surgery can be shaped in different ways according to the surgical plan.
As part of the Automatic Pectus Bar Bender project, a technical system was designed to evaluate, through software, coordinates obtained from the patient’s three-dimensional chest computed tomography images.
The study addressed the engineering principles for transferring the bar geometry determined by the surgeon to a bending mechanism and preparing the metal bar based on this data.
The project encompasses scientific and technical development work on processing imaging data, determining bar geometry, and the operating principles of the bending mechanism.
This work was published as a scientific article in Current Thoracic Surgery under the title “An Automatic Bender for Customized Pectus Bar.”
Balloon Pectus Bar Design
The Balloon Pectus Bar Design is a medical device development project related to the pectus bars used in pectus excavatum surgery.
The designed model features a special channel or groove on the pectus bar and a balloon mechanism that can be placed in this area.
The project evaluated the position of the balloon on the bar, the technical structure of the system, and the engineering principles for adjusting pressure values.
The project encompasses scientific and technical development work on the design and operating principles of a pectus bar model with a balloon mechanism.
The information in this section is provided as part of Prof. Dr. Erkan Yıldırım’s professional background regarding his scientific and technical development work. It makes no claim about the clinical effectiveness of any medical device or its superiority over other methods.
Professional Certifications
In 2003 and 2015, he was awarded the Turkish Board of Thoracic Surgery Certificate of Proficiency.
These certifications document professional knowledge and surgical competence in thoracic surgery according to national and international assessment criteria.
Professional Memberships
- Turkish Society of Thoracic Surgery
- Turkish Society of Cardiovascular Surgery
- Scandinavian Society for Research in Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Fellow of European Medical Specialists
Clinical Experience, Scientific Research, and Medical Device Development
The clinical experience he gained in international transplantation programs, his academic work published in peer-reviewed journals, and his technical development projects in pectus surgery form the core of his professional work. He introduced into clinical use the ETS ramicotomy surgical technique, which he alone performs.