H. Rey Juan Carlos cares for more than 200 patients

The Movement Disorders Unit King Juan Carlos University Hospital has already treated more than 200 patients “with excellent results” in its joint consultation of Neurology and Neurophysiologya “unique formula and one of the few that exists in Spain” that, in the opinion of the doctor Carlos Ordas Banderacoordinator of the aforementioned unit, is what really makes the Mostoleño hospital different in addressing this type of disorders.

In this space, neurologists and neurophysiologists simultaneously evaluate the patient with the help of neurophysiological recordings in real time. “Thanks to this integration,” continues the specialist, “the patient leaves the consultation with a very precise diagnosis and an adapted therapeutic plan, demonstrating that it is possible to differentiate with diagnostic precision between an essential tremor and a functional one in a single visit, avoiding unnecessary waits and trips, and increasing the efficiency of the system in a valuable way.”

It is one of the characteristics that has consolidated the experience of the King Juan Carlos Movement Disorders Unit as a cutting-edge and autonomous infrastructure, achieving the capacity to offer all the treatments available for the disease of Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, which has placed it at the same level as the major national references, according to the center.

“This operational capacity represents a milestone for patients, who no longer have to travel to other areas or hospital complexes in Madrid to undergo highly complex procedures such as deep brain stimulation surgeries,” says the neurologist, who believes that “having all treatments in their reference hospital, where there is close interdisciplinary collaboration between Neurosurgery, Anesthesia, Neurophysiology and Neurology, allows for immediate treatment of any complication, which results in an improvement in their quality of life.”

Coordination

He points out that this positioning “in national first line of assistance” is based on the binomial of the aforementioned coordination between highly specialized services and highly complex technology. On a therapeutic level, the center stands out for the availability for five years of deep brain stimulation – implantation of electrodes in the brain that, connected to a battery, improve the control of disabling symptoms of various diseases through the electrical stimulation of groups of neurons located in specific brain regions that coordinate different functions of the body – to which last fall it added adaptive brain stimulation, the most advanced technique today, in which, using smart electrodes and an Artificial Intelligence system, the device detects the electrical activity of the brain in real time and automatically adjusts the intensity of the stimulation according to the needs of each patient at all times.

This level of surgical precision is also complemented by the use of high intensity focal ultrasound (HIFU), which consists of the emission of focused ultrasound beams that cause a progressive and controlled elevation of temperature in the target of interest until the desired lesion is generated through a process of coagulative necrosis of the brain tissue to achieve control of symptoms of some movement disorders. This technique, indicated and assisted by the King Juan Carlos team, reinforces the center’s leadership in non-invasive treatments.

To value this care model, based on multidisciplinary collaboration, the Rey Juan Carlos University Hospital has recently given the ‘Neurophysiology Course in Movement Disorders‘, which featured experts with international experience and practical workshops with real patients, and allowed attendees to closely assess how to perform and interpret high-precision neurophysiological recordings in an integrated manner.

“This technique is carried out in such an intimate way between Neurology and Neurophysiology in very few places in Spain,” says Dr. Ordás, highlighting that this training leadership is also consolidated with a two-year ‘fellow’ training program for neurologists interested in fully specializing in this successful model.