Prof. Dr. Hadi Özer, as the founder of Turkish US Society, could you summarise for us, the historical events that led to the foundation ?

My first experience with A-mode echoencephalography was at the Hospital of Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia. The indication was to explore why a calcifed pineal gland of a patient had shifted from midline. We also tested a prototype portable US machine, made by Smith-Kline company, to verify the shift of the pineal gland. The date was unforgettable; Nov. 23, 1963. That day President Kennedy was assassinated.

The first B-mode gray-scale US; articulated arm Picker’s Echo-view EDC machine with a 2.5 mHz transducer was installed in Prof. Herbert L. Abrams’ Radiology Department at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1970. As a member of staff, I witnessed this event and attended the lecture given by Dr. Hans Henrik Holm, who was visiting the department. Abdominal US studies had been started by my colleague Dr. Edward H. Smith.During the next 2 years I worked at the same department and learned the basics of US. In June 1972, I returned to Turkey. In 1974, in Ankara University Radiology Department, I used a Siemens machine to perform probably “the first abdominal US” in Turkey. The same year I became the Chairman of the Department of Radiology in Ege University.

I started to use a Picker US machine. Together with my colleague E. Alp Niron, who was educated in USA, we increased the patient numbers in US practice, and started to perform US-guided biopsies. Meanwhile our team also concentrated on imaging hydatid disease. Our studies on hydatid cyst classification were published in British Journal of Radiology in 1981, almost simultaneously with Gharbi’s famous paper. Early US studies done by radiologists and gastro-enterologists, led to a spreading interest in Turkey and many US machines from Siemens, Kretz, and Pie-Data were imported. In parallel with the huge interest, the need for US education was obvious and Turkish US Society (TUD) was founded in 1985, by 10 colleagues from different specialties.