Nebahat Bilici, MD

Nebahat Bilici, MD is a neurologist at Acibadem Atasehir Hospital in İstanbul, where she practices within the hospital’s Neurology unit. Her subspecialty areas are headache treatment, sleep disorders, and stroke and preventive treatments. She has more than 29 years of experience in medicine and sees both adult patients from Turkey and patients who travel from abroad for neurological assessment.

Dr. Bilici graduated from Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine in 1997 and completed her specialty training in neurology at Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine in 2004. Her professional experience includes work at the Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine Department of Electrophysiology and at Kızılay Hospital in 2005, and she has been part of Acıbadem Healthcare Services since 2005. She is a member of the Turkish Cerebrovascular Diseases Association, the Turkish Sleep Medicine Association, the Turkish Medical Association and the Turkish Neurological Association. Her academic work includes chapters on status epilepticus and intracerebral hemorrhages in the 2010 volume Emergency Neurological and Neurosurgical Syndromes, co-authorship of a 2009 study in Turk Neurosurg on the neuroprotective effects of cyclooxygenase inhibitors in an experimental Parkinson’s model, and case reports and studies presented at National Neurology Congresses and the National Clinical Neurophysiology EEG-EMG Congress.

Clinical focus

A large part of Dr. Bilici’s practice is devoted to headache. She evaluates patients with recurrent or persistent headache, including migraine, with the aim of clarifying the headache type and discussing preventive and acute treatment options that suit the individual patient. She also assesses patients with dizziness, where a careful history and neurological examination help to distinguish between the possible underlying causes.

Sleep disorders form a second focus. Dr. Bilici uses polysomnography (overnight sleep testing) as part of the work-up of patients whose symptoms suggest a sleep-related disorder, and she interprets the findings together with the clinical picture. She also follows patients with epilepsy, which reflects her background in electrophysiology, and she is involved in stroke prevention, including the identification and management of risk factors in patients who have had a stroke or are considered at risk of one. Treatment recommendations depend on the individual diagnosis and are discussed with the patient after the assessment.

How Dr. Bilici works with international patients

Dr. Bilici consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for patients who speak other languages. Before a visit, the Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports and imaging, such as MRI or CT reports, EEG or sleep study results, laboratory findings 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. Video consultation is available for international patients who would like to discuss their situation with Dr. Bilici before deciding whether to travel.