Prof. Dr. Hüsnü Süslü

Education and training

Prof. Dr. Hüsnü Süslü graduated from Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine in 1994. He completed his specialty training in anaesthesiology and reanimation at Kartal Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul.

After qualifying as a specialist, he focused his work on pain medicine and became a subspecialist in algology (pain medicine). He worked at Kartal Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital for many years, and during this time he was the physician in charge of the hospital's pain (algology) unit. Over these years he attended courses in Türkiye and abroad on interventional pain techniques, including ultrasound-guided regional blocks, vertebroplasty, dorsal column stimulation and epiduroscopy.

He later served as a faculty member at Maltepe University Faculty of Medicine. He became an associate professor in 2016 and a professor in 2021. Today he sees patients at his private clinic in Kadıköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul. The timeline on this page lists the main steps of his education and career.

Clinical approach

The first aim of every consultation is to find out where the pain is coming from. Pain that spreads into the leg or arm, for example, can arise from a disc, a facet joint (one of the small joints between the vertebrae) or a nerve root. That is why your history, a physical and neurological examination and your existing scans are assessed together, and further tests are requested when needed.

Chronic pain often affects sleep, mood and work as well. Treatment goals are therefore agreed with you: the aim is not only to reduce pain but also to support what you can do in daily life.

Treatment starts with the least invasive option that suits your situation. Adjusting medication, exercise and physiotherapy are often the first steps. If these are not enough, interventional treatments such as image-guided injections, nerve blocks or radiofrequency procedures may be considered. For every option, the expected benefits, possible risks and alternatives are explained clearly, and the decision is made together with you.

When needed, he works with physiotherapists, neurosurgeons, orthopaedic surgeons and oncologists. If the examination shows findings that need a surgical opinion, you are referred to the appropriate surgeon.

His main clinical interests are:

• Interventional treatment of spine-related pain, such as lumbar disc herniation, sciatica and facet joint pain
• Neuropathic pain and cancer pain
• Radiofrequency techniques
• Injections guided by fluoroscopy (live X-ray) or ultrasound

Academic work

Prof. Dr. Süslü has published scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. His work covers topics such as transforaminal epidural injections, radiofrequency treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, injection treatments for myofascial pain and ultrasound-guided nerve block techniques. Some of these studies focus on the safety of interventional procedures and on models for teaching them. An up-to-date list is available on the Publications page.

He has also appeared as a guest on Turkish television health programmes, including on NTV, to explain pain conditions and treatment options to the public.