Diagnosis and conservative treatment of trigeminal neuralgia in University Hospital Greifswald

About the department

According to the Focus magazine, the Department of Neurology and Epileptology at the University Hospital Greifswald ranks among the top German medical facilities specializing in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and dementia! 

The department offers a full range of diagnostics and treatment for diseases of the brain and spinal cord, as well as pathologies of the peripheral nervous system. The main areas of the department's clinical practice include providing medical care to patients with stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, brain tumors, and spinal cord tumors. Numerous specialized outpatient clinics and an advanced Stroke Unit with 10 beds are operating on the basis of the department. The department has 56 beds for patient hospitalization, 5 of which are equipped with video-EEG monitoring systems. The department cooperates closely with specialists in the fields of neurosurgery, neuropediatrics, radiology, psychiatry, human genetics, and others. The department's therapeutic options include drug therapy and physiotherapeutic procedures, including electrical stimulation, magnetotherapy, massage, manual therapy, and other techniques. Special attention should be paid to the high professionalism of the department's neurologists because doctors give due consideration to the patient's comprehensive diagnostics, based on the results of which they develop an optimal course of treatment to achieve a complete cure for the patient or a long-term remission for incurable neurological disorders. The Head Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Agnes Flöel.

The department's team of doctors has been treating stroke patients for many years. There is a specialized Stroke Unit certified in accordance with the standards of the German Stroke Society (DSG). A stroke is an acute disorder of cerebral circulation that leads to the death of nerve cells, as a result of which a patient may develop impaired coordination of movement, swallowing, speech, vision, cognitive functions, etc. Unfortunately, with untimely medical care, a stroke often leads to death, so the key to successful treatment is an immediate hospitalization. If a stroke is suspected, the department primarily performs CT and/or MRI scans, as well as ultrasound examinations. After determining the type of stroke, the department's neurologists begin therapy aimed at eliminating the circulatory disorder in the brain and its consequences. The main treatment for an ischemic stroke (the most common type of the pathology) is thrombolysis. The essence of this therapeutic procedure is the administration of drugs to dissolve the blood clot and restore the blood supply to the brain. In the case of a hemorrhagic stroke, comprehensive drug treatment is carried out, including the prescription of antihypertensive drugs, antispasmodics, analgesics, sedatives, vitamin complexes, etc. After the stabilization of the patient's condition and the completion of treatment, a complex of rehabilitation measures is carried out to restore the functions of the patient's body and return him to his usual way of life.

Another priority focus of the department's work is epilepsy treatment, which is carried out in a modern, highly specialized center. Epilepsy is a pathological condition caused by the impaired electrical activity of the brain. The main manifestation of the disease is periodic seizures, during which a patient experiences twitching of certain parts of the body, loss of consciousness, excessive sweating, salivation, and other symptoms. It is worth noting that an epileptic seizure occurs suddenly and without any apparent reason. At the diagnostic stage, it is important for an attending physician to obtain a detailed description of the patient's epileptic seizures, as this will help him determine the exact type of epilepsy. The most common causes of epilepsy are traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, alcoholism, infectious diseases, heredity, hormone imbalances, and metabolic disorders. Long experience and a state-of-the-art technical base allow the department's doctors to perform accurate diagnostics of the brain and develop an optimal treatment regimen in accordance with the patient's individual needs. The department's neurologists are responsible for the conservative treatment of epilepsy with anticonvulsants, which achieves excellent results in 70% of cases. Patients with drug-resistant epilepsy often require surgery or a vagus nerve stimulation procedure. These treatment methods are performed by experienced neurosurgeons at the University Hospital. The department's neurologists diagnose and treat more than 1,000 patients with epilepsy annually, and therefore they have unique experience in this field of neurology.

The department's doctors also specialize in treating patients with multiple sclerosis that is a chronic autoimmune nervous system lesion. The disease leads to impaired coordination and vision, numbness in the face and body, and muscle weakness. Multiple sclerosis is more common among young women. The main diagnostic methods for suspected multiple sclerosis are MRI scans of the brain and spinal cord, as well as cerebrospinal fluid analysis. In some cases, electrophysiological studies may also be performed. If the results of the preliminary diagnostics confirm the presence of multiple sclerosis, the department's doctors will immediately begin treatment. In modern medicine, there are no methods by which multiple sclerosis could be completely cured, so therapy is aimed at relieving symptoms and slowing down the progression of the pathology. Immunomodulatory therapy is most often prescribed, after which the patient is regularly monitored by a neurologist and receives symptomatic treatment. The department's doctors have long experience carrying out immunotherapy for multiple sclerosis. In the case of exacerbation or progression of the disease, plasmapheresis or immunoadsorption may be used. Highly qualified rehabilitation therapists, massage therapists, physiotherapists, and other specialists work with patients in the department, whose goal is to improve the patient's health condition and his quality of life.

The department's medical team also demonstrates success in treating movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, generalized and focal forms of dystonia, gait disorders caused by neurological pathologies, spastic paralysis, etc. The above-mentioned diseases are usually treated using effective drug therapy regimens in combination with physiotherapy procedures. In the case of Parkinson's disease, invasive treatment with an apomorphine infusion pump and Duodopa pump therapy are also successfully performed. In cooperation with the Department of Neurosurgery, deep brain stimulation is performed for Parkinson's disease, tremors, and dystonia.

The department's range of medical services includes the diagnostics and treatment of the following diseases:

• Movement disorders
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Essential tremor
  • Focal and generalized dystonia
  • Neurological gait disorders
  • Spastic paralysis
  • Extrapyramidal disorders
  • Ataxia
  • Wilson's disease
  • Huntington's disease
  • Tourette syndrome
• Stroke
• Dementia states
• Epilepsy
• Chronic headaches
• Neuromuscular diseases
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
  • Polyneuropathies and other peripheral nervous system diseases
  • Neuromuscular junction lesion and impaired muscle function due to it
  • Cerebral palsy and other forms of palsy
• Neuroimmunological diseases
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Diseases of the nerves, nerve roots, and plexuses
  • Meningitis
  • Encephalitis
  • Myelitis
• Malignant diseases of the central nervous system
  • Malignant brain tumors
  • Malignant spinal cord tumors
• Other neurological disorders

The department's therapeutic options include:

• Drug therapy with pills
• Infusion and injection therapy
• Thrombolysis for stroke
• Apomorphine pump treatment and Duodopa pump therapy for Parkinson's disease
• Immunomodulatory therapy, plasmapheresis, and immunoadsorption in multiple sclerosis
• Physiotherapy
• Other treatment methods