The Neuroscience Clinic at Anadolu Medical Center combines the departments of neurology and neurosurgery. The first deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the central nervous system (headache, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease). The second applies the most advanced techniques (Cyberknife, radiosurgery, EEG monitoring, digital angiography, MRI, CT, etc.).
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease that causes irreversible memory and behavioral dysfunction. Typically, symptoms start slowly and then get worse over time until they interfere with daily activities. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in humans.
Basics of Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia is an umbrella term for a severe mental disorder characterized by an irreversible impairment of thinking activities, especially memory. With over 80% of cases, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
Although the greatest risk factor for the disease is age (most affected people are over 65), Alzheimer’s is not a normal aging process. In fact, it is noted that 5% of those affected are aged between 40 and 50; this is called the early manifestation of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease, and the degeneration it causes becomes more pronounced over the years. In the early stages, memory impairment is mild; but in an advanced stage, individuals lose their autonomy and ability to interact with their environment.
Nowadays, Alzheimer’s disease is incurable, but there are drugs that control the symptoms and research continues. While current treatments don’t stop the disease from progressing, they do slow the worsening of dementia symptoms; improve the quality of life of patients and that of the healthcare personnel who accompany them.
10 symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
Although mild memory loss is a normal part of aging, more severe (or more frequent) impairment of cognition in the brain can be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
If you notice one or more of these ten mental activity dysfunctions in yourself (or someone close to you), see your doctor to determine the cause.
- Memory loss affecting daily life;
- Difficulty planning or solving problems;
- Difficulty performing familiar tasks at home or at work;
- Confusion with time or space;
- Difficulty interpreting images and spatial relationships;
- Appearance of new difficulties in oral or written expression;
- Lost property and loss of ability to reconstruct a route;
- Impaired judgment;
- Withdrawal from work or social activities.
- Mood swings and personality disorders.
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However, having memory impairment does not necessarily mean you have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
(i) To find out more about these symptoms, see this page on the Alzheimer’s Association website: 10 signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
The Department of Neurophysiology of the Anadolu Center, a state-of-the-art clinic
To guarantee its patients optimal quality care, the Anadolu Center’s neurophysiology department applies the most advanced tests required today by neurological sciences, namely:
Cyberknife surgery
The CyberKnife® System is a whole body radiation therapy solution that delivers high doses of radiation with submillimeter accuracy. Unlike conventional radiotherapy, the CyberKnife system’s radiation head is mounted on a robotic arm which makes it perfectly mobile and capable of irradiating the tumor from different directions. This flexibility allows high doses of radiation to be applied with extreme precision, regardless of the location of the tumor in the body.
Radiosurgery
Radiosurgery is a recent radiotherapy technique. It consists of administering a beam of rays that surround the tumor to destroy it. This technique is particularly useful for treating deep-seated tumors for which it would be dangerous to perform surgery. Unlike conventional radiotherapy, radiosurgery requires very few sessions. However, radiosurgery is not suitable for all types of cancer. It is reserved for small tumors, no larger than 3.5 centimeters in diameter and with well-defined contours.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that measures and records the electrical activity of the brain. EEG uses electrodes attached to the head and connected to a computer. The EGG is a painless examination. An EEG is performed for:
- Detect and locate any abnormal electrical activity in the brain;
- Determine the location of a tumor, inflammation, infection, bleeding, or lesion in the brain
- Diagnose and monitor diseases such as epilepsy, narcolepsy (sleep disorders) and cerebral edema;
- Brain monitoring during brain surgery.
digital angiography
Angiography allows you to see the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the organs, head and limbs. This exam uses X-rays coupled to the production of scanned images and requires an injection of iodine. Angiography can be done on an outpatient basis (you go home shortly after the exam) or require a short hospital stay.
The radiologist introduces a thin tube called a catheter into an artery, groin, or arm. He then injects an iodinated contrast medium. This fluid makes the arteries visible on X-rays by giving them a color. The doctor then takes X-rays of the body. Angiography therefore helps the medical team choose the most suitable treatment for the patient.
CT
CT scans, which are noninvasive and require minimal radiation, use X-ray equipment to obtain information about the body from different angles. We then proceed to computer processing of this information to recreate a cut image of the different tissues and organs.
CT can show different types of tissue, such as lungs, bones, soft tissue, and blood vessels. It is a particularly useful technique for the diagnosis of tumours, infectious cardiovascular pathologies, traumas and osteo-articular diseases.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Magnetic resonance imaging or magnetic resonance imaging is one of the newest medical imaging techniques. It allows you to visualize organs and soft tissues with great precision, in different planes of space. This allows you to determine the exact location of otherwise invisible lesions. This examination, which uses only the properties of magnetic fields, does not cause any radiation.
Due to its high accuracy, the fields of application of MRI are wide. This examination is particularly used in the exploration of cerebral, spinal, bone, articular, digestive, gynecological, vascular and cardiac pathologies.
(i) For more information, visit the page of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery of the ANADOLU Medical Center:
