Page 14 - Revista FRONTAL Edição Especial iMed 12.0

SCIENTIFIC LECTURES

LUDVIC ZRINZO MD, PHD, FRCSED

MAKING DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION SAFER

AUTHOR
PEDRO VILÃO SILVA

Prof Ludvic Zrinzo is a professor of medical studies at the University of Malta in Functional Neurosurgery Unit in 2018.
Functional Neurosurgery at the University 1995, Prof Ludvic Zrinzo decided to special- In his work in the area of functional
College London Queen Square Institute of ise in Neurosurgery. Having moved to Lon- neurosurgery, Prof Zrinzo has looked deep
Neurology and the head of its Functional don and enrolled at the University College into the improvement of surgical care (op-
Neurosurgery Unit (FuN-Unit). He is also a London Institute of Neurology, Prof Zrinzo timising outcomes, minimising risks) given
consultant Neurosurgeon at The National was awarded an MSc in Clinical Neurosci- to patients undergoing deep brain stimu-
Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, ence with Distinction, for his work, in 1999. lation procedures, especially in the context
London, United Kingdom. His research has In 2005, Prof Zrinzo was elected Fellow of of the management of chronic neurological
been focused on the uses and application the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. and psychiatric disease, not only limited
of safe and effective functional neurosur- During his training, he also engaged in to advanced Parkinson’s disease, dystonia,
gery in the management and treatment of Fellowships in Stereotactic and Function- and tremor, but also including chronic pain,
chronic neurological diseases. Prof Zrinzo al Neurosurgery at the University College headache, severe refractory depression and
specialises in deep brain stimulation (DBS), London Queen Square Institute of Neurol- even Tourette’s syndrome,. In fact, his unit
focusing on the improvement of the surgi- ogy, and at UCLA, in the USA. He has been at University College London Queen Square
cal care that patients undergoing these pro- a Consultant Neurosurgeon at The National Institute of Neurology has been described
cedures are given. Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery as an “international benchmark” in safety
Having completed his undergraduate since 2007 and was appointed Head of the and efficacy, being the busiest deep brain
stimulation centre in the United Kingdom.
Prof Ludovic Zrinzo’s research interests,
therefore, include looking deep into meth-
ods of improving the safety, accuracy and
efficacy of these DBS procedures, through
precise cerebral imaging via MRI guidance
and MRI verification, as well as the use of
neuroimagiology to identify and investigate
possible novel brain targets and indications
for stereotactic neurosurgery. His work also
involves investigation into cranial nerve dis-
orders and therapeutic neurosurgery.
At the Functional Neurosurgery Unit,
Prof Ludvic Zrinzo has directed a multidisci-
plinary team of researchers with the goal of
investigating and providing the best possi-
ble care and management to patients with
Parkinson’s disease, or other movement
and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as
providing extensive training and education
in this field and refining, better understand-
ing and spreading the use of surgical tech-
niques through comprehensive research.
He is also a lecturer and a supervisor of MSc
students in courses in Clinical Neuroscience
and Advanced Neuroimaging. His research
work is widely respected, being the author
of hundreds of peer-reviewed publications
and abstracts, as well as book chapters.
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