Neurology

In joint projects with our partners at the Department of Neurology at Cologne University, our main areas of investigation are:

Pathophysiology of acute and chronic stroke

Diffusion- and perfusion-weighted MRI: Oxygen and glucose consumption in patients with acute stroke

The chief thrust of this research is on the comparison of different imaging techniques and their validation for clinical use in acute stroke (Dr Sobesky), and the imaging of pathophysiological processes and their dynamics in the course of events following stroke (Dr Shroeter).

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Metabolic effects of new treatments for movement disorders

Three-dimensional image of the brain with projection of glucose consumption onto the plane of imaging. Reconstruction of the electrodes’ placement during deep brain stimulation in the sub-thalamic nucleus in a patient with Parkinson’s disease

Effective forms of treatment have been available for some time for central movement disorders.  One example is deep brain stimulation, in which certain brain regions are stimulated with high-frequency electrical impulses via electrodes implanted directly at those sites.  However, there is still very little known about the exact effects of this therapeutic technique on different metabolic processes in the brain and our aim is therefore to extend our knowledge on this front.

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Mechanisms of orthological ageing

Imaging of acetylcholinesterase activity with [C11]-MP4A-PET in healthy subjects (NC) and in patients with Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) disease

Dramatic shifts in the age distribution of the general population have made ageing processes and their pathological alteration a matter of increasing public concern. In the normal course of growing older, a large number of changes take place in the metabolism of the brain.  We want to find out what these processes are and when and where they are initiated in the brain.