Hello everyone, I’m Perla. I had surgery one month ago with Dr. Khamran Aghayev for bilateral atlanto-styloid syndrome. I want to write this post to help people learn more about the doctor and make a good choice.
Dr. Khamran Aghayev offers both video calls and in-person visits at his office (he prefers in-person visits to avoid misunderstandings). He recommends that anyone who comes already has a CT scan, and optionally—but strongly recommended—an MRI with contrast, preferably from the head down to the base of the neck. This allows him not only to see whether atlanto-styloid syndrome is present, but also to check for other possible issues involving the brain’s arteries and veins, or a possible thoracic outlet syndrome.
In general, the doctor does not have very long waiting lists, either for appointments or for surgery: appointments are scheduled after a phone call, with about a one-week waiting time, while surgery usually has a waiting list of about one month. To be precise, the doctor operates only on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, either both morning and afternoon or only in the afternoon, starting from 2:00 p.m.
It is important to know that before any consultation, once you describe your symptoms to the doctor’s assistant, Bassam, and after you send your CT scan and contrast MRI, he gives a first free opinion through videos or by email if the problem is complex and cannot be explained well in a video.
For bilateral atlanto-styloid syndrome, according to the doctor’s standards the surgery includes: styloidectomy, C1 shave, resection of the occipital artery, and myotomy of the rectus muscle and the digastric muscle to create more space for the jugular vein and the nerves. If needed, the nerves will also be freed from fibrotic tissue caused by compression.
Currently, surgery for atlanto-styloid syndrome costs 25,000 US dollars. The doctor accepts any type of insurance.
Once you choose the surgery date, it works like this: Mr. Ahmed, their driver, will take you from the airport to the hotel or residence, from the residence to the hospital, from the hospital back to the residence, from the residence to the follow-up visit, and from the residence to the airport.
From what I understood, Dr. Khamran Aghayev works in three hospitals: BHT Hospital, Kağıthane Kızılay Hastanesi, and Acıbadem Hospital. The hospital where he will perform the surgery depends on the severity of the syndrome and bed availability. The hospitals listed from most to least suitable for severe cases are: BHT Hospital, Kağıthane Kızılay Hastanesi, and Acıbadem Hospital.
A very important detail: in these hospitals there are no interpreters from English to Turkish or from any language to English. In general, the staff does not speak English well, so I recommend installing a translation app on your phone or buying a translator device from your language to Turkish.
Usually, pre-admission happens around 9:00 a.m., when they will do blood tests, an ECG, and a chest X-ray. You will be assigned a single-bed room. Dr. Khamran Aghayev will arrive around 2:00 p.m. to speak with you one last time and mark the surgical areas with a marker, then you will go to the operating room.
In general, for bilateral atlanto-styloid syndrome surgery, the hospital stay is 3–4 days including the day of surgery, or 5 days if the patient does not feel ready to return to the hotel or residence and asks to stay one extra day in the hospital.
After surgery, even though you will be in a lot of pain and it may feel like your head cannot hold itself up, they will advise you to stand up and walk a lot. This is the only way to clear the anesthesia, reduce the swelling and the air that will start compressing the jugular veins and nerves instead of the bones (this resolves within 6 months after surgery), and to help the other head muscles readapt after the myotomy. The more you stay standing or sitting without leaning on anything, the faster you recover.
Another important thing to know is that after surgery you will not be given opioids to reduce pain, because—as you can also read in the full leaflet online—opioids increase swelling and post-operative air, which increases the length of the post-operative recovery and hospital stay.
After surgery, either the day after the procedure (also upon request) or when you see him at his office after one week, Dr. Khamran Aghayev will have you do a CT scan to see how the surgery went. Every evening during your hospital stay, the doctor or the assistant, Bassam (who is also a doctor), will come to check your general condition.
It is important to know that from the surgery until you leave Turkey, the assistant Bassam will be available 24/7. After about one week you will have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Aghayev. After 6 months you will need to return to Dr. Aghayev for another check-up with a new CT scan at his office. You could also do it from home by sending a recent CT scan, but the doctor prefers to see you in person and do the CT scan in his office.
As for my personal advice, I recommend staying at least 15 days in Turkey and staying in a residence, because the first 10 days will be very difficult: difficulty and pain when swallowing and difficulty staying seated or standing. I also recommend standing as much as possible despite the pain, and walking every day. By doing this, around the 20th day after surgery you will still have pain, but you will not have other problems.
I also recommend, as Dr. Khamran Aghayev and his assistant Bassam told me, getting used to eating solid foods again as soon as possible. This helps the glossopharyngeal nerve and the muscles relearn how to swallow.
Dr. Khamran Aghayev is truly very skilled. He has done much more serious and complex cases, so he considers this surgery routine. Even though you will have an incision, I assure you that you won’t even feel it because of the myotomy—of course, it changes if he had to work on fibrotic tissue around the nerves, but somehow it is manageable.
I hope this post explains everything as clearly as possible. Sorry for my poor English—I’m Italian and I haven’t had the chance to speak or write in English.
