Neurological Sciences 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 (headaches, strokes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease). The second applies the most advanced techniques (Cyberknife, radiosurgery, EEG monitoring, digital angiography, MRI, CT-scan, etc.).
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease that causes irreversible memory and behavioral dysfunctions. Typically, symptoms begin slowly and then worsen over time until they interfere with daily tasks. 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 thought activities, especially memory. With more than 80% of cases, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
Although the greatest risk factor for the disease is age (the majority of those affected are over 65), Alzheimer’s is not a normal aging process. Indeed, it is noted that 5% of people affected are between 40 and 50 years old; this is called the early manifestation of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease, and the degeneration it causes are accentuated over the years. In the early stages, memory impairment is mild; but at an advanced stage, individuals lose their autonomy and ability to interact with their environment.
Nowadays, Alzheimer’s disease is incurable, but medications that control the symptoms exist and research continues. Although current treatments do not prevent the disease from progressing, they do slow the worsening of dementia symptoms; they improve the quality of life of the patients and that of the health personnel accompanying them.
10 symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
Although mild memory loss is a normal part of aging, more severe (or more frequent) impairment of cognitive functions in the brain may be early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
If you notice one or more of these ten dysfunctions of thought activities in yourself (or in someone close to you), consult your doctor to determine the cause.
- Memory loss that affects 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 objects and loss of the 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 deficits does not necessarily mean that you have Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
(i) To learn more about these symptoms, please see this page on the Alzheimer’s Association website: 10 signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
The Anadolu Center Neurophysiology Department, a state-of-the-art clinic
In order to guarantee its patients optimal quality care, the Anadolu Center’s neurophysiology department applies the most advanced examinations required by neurological sciences today, namely:
Cyberknife surgery
The CyberKnife® System is a whole-body radiation therapy solution that delivers high doses of radiation with sub-millimeter precision. Unlike conventional radiotherapy, the radiation head of the CyberKnife system is mounted on a robotic arm making it perfectly mobile and able to irradiate 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 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 tumours. It is reserved for small tumors, not exceeding 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 that are attached to the head and connected to a computer. The EGG is a painless examination. An EEG is done for:
- Detect and locate any abnormal electrical activity in the brain;
- Determine the location in the brain of a tumor, inflammation, infection, bleeding or injury;
- Diagnose and monitor diseases such as epilepsy, narcolepsy (sleep disorder) and cerebral edema;
- Monitoring the brain during brain surgery.
Digital angiography
Angiography allows you to see the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the organs, the head, the limbs. This examination uses X-rays coupled with the production of digitized images and it requires an injection of iodine. Angiography can be done on an outpatient basis (return home shortly after the examination) or require a brief hospital stay.
The radiologist introduces a thin tube called a catheter into an artery, in the groin or in the arm. He then injects an iodinated contrast liquid. This fluid makes the arteries visible on x-rays by giving them a color. The doctor then takes X-rays of the body. Angiography thus helps the medical team to choose the treatment best suited to the patient.
CT-scan
The CT scan, which is non-invasive and requires minimal radiation, uses X-ray equipment to obtain information about the body from different angles. It then proceeds to a computer processing of this information to recreate a sliced image of the different tissues and organs.
CT can show different types of tissue, such as lungs, bone, soft tissues, and blood vessels. It is a technique that is especially useful for the diagnosis of cancers, infectious cardiovascular pathologies, traumas as well as osteo-articular diseases.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging is one of the most recent medical imaging techniques. It makes it possible to visualize organs and soft tissues with great precision, in different planes of space. This makes it possible to determine the exact location of otherwise invisible lesions. This examination, which only uses the properties of magnetic fields, does not cause any irradiation.
Thanks to its high precision, the fields of application of MRI are wide. This examination is particularly used in the exploration of cerebral, spinal, bone, joint, digestive, gynecological, vascular and cardiac pathologies.
(i) For more information, visit the page of the Neurology and Neurosurgery Department of the ANADOLU Medical Center:
