Geriatric Psychiatry

Bitte klicken Sie hier für die deutsche Version.

The focus of the working group "geriatric psychiatry" lies on dementia, and mainly on the possibilities of early diagnosis.

Research projects

FTLD study of the FTLD consortium

Frontotemporal dementia is a kind of dementia of high clinical relevance due to the fact that it is found primarily in younger patients (unter 65, average age of about 55). The term "frontotemporal lobar degeneration" (FTLD) describes a range of neurodegenerative diseases affecting mainly the frontal and temporal lobe of the brain. Initially, those diseases were called "M. Pick".

Clinically, those diseases can be subdivided into two predominant groups of symptoms:

1) patients with behavioural problems and abnormalities and

2) patients with speech disorders.

Extrapyramidal symptoms are predominant in particular in corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy.

In cooperation with HALMA,  the counseling, supporting and networking center for family member carers in Würzburg, we developed a concept for a local counseling group for patients and relatives, taking place regularly since 2012.

Early diagnosis of dementia (Vogel-Study)

Due to the fact that there is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease, the disease is of increasing medical, social and economic importance. Therefore we are working on modern diagnostic procedures, which are non-invasive, easy to perform, cost efficient and repeatable as often as required, to examine and monitor the progression of the disease or the effectiveness of treatment. A perfect examination method should be able to diagnose the disease in an early stage, i.e. in a stage where few neurons are irrevocably damaged. Current methods meet these criteria only to a certain extent. We use three methods, namely somatosensory evoked potentials of the 10th cranial nerve (i.e. vagus evoked potentials, VSEP) and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), that meet all of the criteria above.

Team

Head

• PD Dr. med. Martin Lauer
  E-Mail: Lauer_M@ ukw.de

Scientific collaboration partners

• Dr. med. Alexandra Herr
  E-Mail: Herr_A@ ukw.de
• PD Dr. Thomas Polak
  E-Mail: polak_t@ ukw.de

Study nurse

• n.n.

Current projects

• FTLD
  (in cooperation with FTLD-Konsortium)
  Further information can be found here.
   
• Vogel-Studie
  (in cooperation with EADB-Konsortium)
  Further information can be found here.