Prof. Ayça Erşen Danyeli, MD

Prof. Ayça Erşen Danyeli, MD is a pathologist in the Pathology Department of Acibadem Altunizade Hospital in İstanbul. With more than 23 years in medicine, her work centers on the laboratory examination of tissues and cells to support diagnosis and treatment planning across medical specialties, with a particular focus on neuropathology.

Dr. Danyeli graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 2003 and completed her training in Medical Pathology at Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Medicine in 2009. She received the academic title of Associate Professor in 2017 and joined Acıbadem Healthcare Services in 2018. She is a member of the International Academy of Pathology, the European Confederation of Neuropathological Societies, the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology, and the Ege Pathology Association.

Clinical focus

Dr. Danyeli’s diagnostic work concentrates on neuropathology, including tumors of the central and peripheral nervous system. Her published work addresses malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, including the comparison of diagnostic tools and the use of SOX10 immunohistochemistry to distinguish these tumors from synovial sarcoma and intraneural synovial sarcoma. She has also contributed to the pathology literature on ependymoma, including giant cell ependymoma and anaplastic ependymoma, and on angiocentric glioma, an infiltrative glioma with ependymal differentiation.

Beyond the nervous system, her publications cover solid-pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas, tumor deposits in gastric carcinomas, presacral teratoma with malignant transformation, and epidermoid cyst with transformation to squamous cell carcinoma. Her methods include intraoperative squash cytology, which provides a rapid microscopic assessment of tissue during surgery, and histopathologic diagnosis based on the examination of tissue sections. In each case, the pathology report is intended to inform the treating team’s clinical decisions rather than to replace them.

How Dr. Danyeli works with international patients

Dr. Danyeli works in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for other languages. The international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports and imaging, such as MRI, CT, X-ray or ultrasound reports, laboratory and pathology results, operative notes and discharge summaries, and arranges appointments and the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the patient’s history and symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination and a discussion of the options. As a pathologist, her contribution is usually the assessment of tissue and cell samples referred by the treating clinicians, and her findings form part of the diagnostic evaluation shared with that team. Video consultation is available for international patients.