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Perspective |
1 Department of Radiology, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Sihhiye, Ankara 6100, Turkey.
Received June 21, 2007; accepted after revision June 21, 2007.
Address correspondence to M. Karcaaltincaba.
Keywords: radiology • Turkey
During the past decade, significant changes have occurred in the field of radiology in Turkey. Radiology has become one of the top-ranking specialties preferred by graduating medical students in Turkey. Overall, each year radiology residency programs accept the top 10% of residents who complete a central medical specialty examination. There are approximately 3,000 radiologists in Turkey, and 2,500 of them are members of the Turkish Society of Radiology. In Turkey, radiology started shortly after the introduction of the X-ray in 1897 by a military doctor named Esad Feyzi—the first Turkish radiologist. The Turkish Society of Radiology was founded in 1924, shortly after the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and currently is a member of the European Society of Radiology.
The Turkish Society of Radiology publishes Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (www.dirjournal.org). This journal is published quarterly in English and is available free to all readers. Recently, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology has been accepted for indexing in Science Citation Index Expanded [1].
Radiology education is currently provided predominantly by university hospitals and government education and training hospitals. There are 42 state university hospitals, six private university hospitals, and 14 government research and training hospitals in Turkey. Radiology residency training programs are under the legal authority of the Ministry of Health. The training period is 5 years, and the Turkish Society of Radiology is actively collaborating with the Ministry of Health in planning education and preparing guidelines for radiology residency programs. Radiology board examinations have been administered for the past 2 years by the education council of the Turkish Society of Radiology.
Postgraduate education is mainly conducted by the Turkish Society of Radiology and its subspecialty groups including abdominal, genitourinary, cardiovascular, breast, musculoskeletal, radiation safety, head and neck, radiology physics, pediatric radiology, and other subspecialty societies. The number of radiologists who pursue research or clinical fellowship training abroad (mainly in the United States) has increased in recent years, and most are offered positions to stay on as faculty members, especially in the United States.
The Turkish Society of Radiology organizes the Turkish Congress of Radiology (www.turkrad2007.org), which is held every year in the last week of October to coincide with the annual celebration of the founding of the Turkish Republic. Each year, 1,500 radiologists attend this meeting. Since 2005, this congress has accepted only electronic exhibits.
In addition to the Turkish Society of Radiology, several other societies exist in Turkey including the Turkish Ultrasound Society, Turkish Magnetic Resonance Society, Turkish Society of Interventional Radiology, Turkish Society of Neuroradiology, and Turkish Society of Thoracic Radiology, which are organizing national and international meetings and courses.
Interventional radiology (including interventional neuroradiology and vascular and nonvascular interventional radiology) is becoming a popular subspecialty in Turkey, and Turkey has a strong reputation in the field of interventional neuroradiology and nonvascular interventional radiology. More than 400 interventional radiologists from all over the world attended the first Anatolian Course of Interventional Radiology held in Istanbul in 2006.
The number of scientific articles by Turkish authors in radiology journals has increased substantially in recent years [2] and Turkey ranked in the top fifth among countries submitting articles to the American Journal of Roentgenology [3–5]. Turkey has been the main contributor to the American Journal of Neuroradiology, ranking sixth among countries outside the Unites States, which published most of the articles. Turkey accounted for 3.3% of the articles, whereas the United Kingdom accounted for 2.6% [6]. A similar trend has been observed in the journal Pediatric Radiology last year. The United States submitted the most articles, and Turkey ranked second (Haliloglu M, oral communication, June 2007). There has been a steep increase in the number of articles published in the radiology journals from Turkey since the introduction of the electronic submission and review process.
The major factors in the progress of the scientific level of Turkish radiology are education and the rapid adaptation of state-of-the-art imaging technologies. Turkey can be a role model to other countries that want to make progress in the field of radiology. I would like to thank all who have participated and helped in the development of Turkish radiology since 1897.
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