
Efrosini KoutsourakiAristotle University of Thessaloniki | AUTH · 1st Department of Neurology
Efrosini Koutsouraki
Associate Professor of Neurology- Neuroimmunology, Aristotle University, AHEPA Hospital/ Visiting Senior Investigator (CING) & Visiting Professor in Frederick University (Cyprus)
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211
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Introduction
Neurology- Neuroimmunology,
cognitive disordres in multiple sclerosis patients,
biomarkers in multiple sclerosis patients,
progression in multiple sclerosis,
neurofilaments and cognitive disorders in multiple sclerosis,
Publications
Publications (211)
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), which also affects the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Manifestations of MS in the ANS include urological, sexual, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and thermoregulatory disorders as well as increased fatigue. These problems are common yet ar...
Aim of the study: Over the last years the cognitive and mental health impairment in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are indicated as important clinical symptoms in the course of the disease. Every beneficial therapeutic management with this target could lessen the disability caused by the disease and improve the quality of life of MS patients. It is known...
Since 1996, a debate regarding the cause of disability in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and the accuracy of the current definitions of MS types has not subsided.
Recently, many researchers presented evidence supporting that relapses are a significant causative factor of the increased disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), primarily, but not exclusively,...
Introduction:
Dementia is a very common disorder that affects people over 65 years old all over the world. Apart from the cognitive decline, Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) are a crucial matter in dementia, because they affect up to 90% of the patients during the course of their illness. Irritability has been found to be a...
Objective:
Hallucinations is a core characteristic symptom in Lewy Body Dementia (DLB) and Parkinson's Dementia (PDD). It may also appear at the late stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). They are not easily managed, and they are associated with cognitive decline, earlier institutionalization, increased mortality, and increased caregivers' burden....
Background:
Aberrant motor behaviour or wandering refers to aimless movement without a specific purpose. Wandering is common in patients with dementia and leads to early institutionalization and caregivers' burden. Non-pharmacological interventions should be also considered as a first-line solution for the wandering because current pharmacological...
Background: This review describes the diagnostic and interventional procedures conducted in two university memory clinics (established network of G. Papanikolaou Hospital: 1988–2017 and AHEPA hospital: 2017–today) and 2 day care centers (established network of DCCs: 2005–today) in North Greece and their contribution in the scientific field of demen...
2.500.000 άτομα παγκοσμίως πάσχουν από ΣΚΠ, εκ των οποίων τα 500.000 βρίσκονται στην Ευρώπη και τα 10.000-12.000 στην Ελλάδα. Μόλις ο ασθενής ακούσει για πρώτη φορά ότι διαγνώσθηκε με Πολλαπλή Σκλήρυνση του γεννιούνται δυνατά συναισθήματα που πολλές φορές συνοδευονται με άρνηση της κατάστασης του. Με τους σωστούς χερισμούς προκύπτει η έγκαιρη αποδο...
Background: Depression is accompanied by the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other forms of dementia. Depression can influence the daily functioning of the patients with dementia (PwD) and their cognitive abilities. Sometimes it is hard to diagnose because it may seem like apathy. The current pharmacological treatment can manage depres...
Εισαγωγή: Η Σκλήρυνση κατά Πλάκας (ΣκΠ) αποτελεί μια φλεγμονώδη απομυελινωτική νόσο του ΚΝΣ με αξονοπάθεια από τα πρώιμα στάδια της νόσου, αυτοάνοσους χαρακτήρες και πολλαπλές βλάβες που παρουσιάζουν «διασπορά στο χώρο και στο χρόνο». Η προσθήκη των διαταραχών του αυτόνομου νευρικού συστήματος (ΑΝΣ) στην ήδη πολύπλοκη φύση των συμπτωμάτων της ΣκΠ δ...
Diagnosing LBD with the aid of Nuclear Medicine
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS), mainly appeared in young adults, characterized by neuroinflammation, demyelination, neurodegeneration and remyelination and with a variety of CNS-related symptoms. The prevalence of cognitive decline in MS patients has been reported to range widely, from 13% to 72...
The root cause of non-inherited Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unknown despite hundreds of research studies performed to attempt to solve this problem. Since proper prophylaxis remains the best strategy, many scientists have studied risk factors that may affect AD development. There is robust evidence supporting the hypothesis that cardiovascular...
Background:
To the best of our knowledgedd, there is currently no case in the literature reporting the comorbidity of Wilson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), linked through copper.
Case presentation:
A 44-year-old male with a history of inherited Wilson's disease (hepatolenticular degeneration), which manifested as mild liver injury and ps...
ΣΚΛΗΡΥΝΣΗ ΚΑΤΑ ΠΛΑΚΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΑΤΑΡΑΧΕΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟΥ ΝΕΥΡΙΚΟΥ ΣΥΣΤΗΜΑΤΟΣ: ΥΠΑΡΧΟΥΝ ΑΛΛΑ ΔΕΝ ΑΞΙΟΛΟΓΟΥΝΤΑΙ; ΣΧΕΔΙΑΣΜΟΣ ΕΡΕΥΝΗΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΣ
ΠΡΟΟΔΕΥΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΠΗΡΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΟΛΛΑΠΛΗ ΣΚΛΗΡΥΝΣΗ: ΜΗΠΩΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΚΑΙΡΟΣ ΝΑ ΑΛΛΑΞΕΙ Η ΟΝΟΜΑΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΝΟΣΟΥ;
Η συσχέτιση μεταξύ πολλαπλής σκλήρυνσης (ΠΣ) και ιδιοπαθών φλεγμονωδών νόσων του εντέρου (ΙΦΝΕ) απαντάται συχνά στη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία. Έχει παρατηρηθεί ότι οι ασθενείς με ΙΦΝΕ διατρέχουν μεγαλύτερο κίνδυνο να αναπτύξουν ΠΣ σε σχέση με τον γενικό πληθυσμό. Οι δύο παθήσεις, παρά τις διαφορετικές κλινικές εκδηλώσεις, μοιράζονται κοινά χαρακτηριστικά...
ΜΕΛΕΤΗ ΤΩΝ ΝΟΗΤΙΚΩΝ ΔΙΑΤΑΡΑΧΩΝ ΣΕ ΑΣΘΕΝΕΙΣ ΜΕ ΣΚΛΗΡΥΝΣΗ ΚΑΤΑ ΠΛΑΚΑΣ ΜΕ ΤΗ ΧΡΗΣΗ ΤΩΝ MMSE ΚΑΙ SKT
Θεόδωρος Κουκουλίδης, Θάλεια Καλαθά, Βασιλική Κώστα, Σταύρος Μπαλογιάννης, Ευφροσύνη Κουτσουράκη
Εξωτερικά ιατρεία Σκλήρυνσης κατά πλάκας, Α΄ Νευρολογική κλινική ΑΠΘ, ΠΓΝΘ ΑΧΕΠΑ
Η συχνότητα των νοητικών διαταραχών στους ασθενείς με ΣΚΠ φαίνεται να υπ...
Objective:
The aim of the present study was to investigate the process of understanding social inferences and metaphors and the pragmatic use of language through emotion recognition and social inference tests in patients diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS) mainly characterized by neurodegeneration. Additionally, we tried t...
Glial and neuroaxonal biomarkers in MS
Background:
The desire to treat patients with MS early and to target the correct therapy to patients is hampered by a lack of useful prognostic biomarkers that can predict disease progression, severity, and responses to treatment. In addition, clinical trials of new drugs require biomarkers that can predict response to therapy over the course of a...
Background
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia. Currently, the most studied biomarkers of AD are cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid β 1-42, total tau and phosphorylated tau. However, misdiagnosis can exceed 20%. Recently, we found that CSF amyloid β precursor-like protein-1 (APLP1) and neuronal pentraxin receptor (NPTXR)...
Background
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia.
Currently, the most studied biomarkers of AD are cerebrospinal fluid
(CSF) amyloid β 1-42, total tau and phosphorylated tau. However,
misdiagnosis can exceed 20%. Recently, we found that CSF amyloid β
precursor-like protein-1 (APLP1) and neuronal pentraxin receptor
(NPTXR)...
We analyzed the fine structure and the synaptical formations in the cerebellar cortex of ten unimpaired human subjects by the use of electron microscopy Such ultrastructural studies of the human cerebellum, especially of the areas where our cytoarchitectonic knowledge is still incomplete, will provide a better understanding of the non-motor contrib...
2.500.000 άτομα παγκοσμίως πάσχουν από ΣΚΠ, εκ των οποίων τα 500.000 βρίσκονται στην Ευρώπη και τα 10.000-12.000 στην Ελλάδα. Μόλις ο ασθενής ακούσει για πρώτη φορά ότι διαγνώσθηκε με Πολλαπλή Σκλήρυνση του γεννιούνται δυνατά συναισθήματα που πολλές φορές συνοδευονται με άρνηση της κατάστασης του. Με τους σωστούς χερισμούς προκύπτει η έγκαιρη αποδο...
Objective:
To investigate whether neurofilament light polypeptide (NfL) level in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), currently a prognostic biomarker of neurodegeneration in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), may be a potential biomarker of cognitive dysfunction in MS.
Methods:
This observational case-control study included patients with MS. CSF leve...
Ectrodactyly or Split-hand/split-foot malformation (SHFM) is a genetic disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of some fingers or toes which have been fused together, often combined with clefts. This is a report of a 60 year old patient with SHFM and a family history of high mortality rate from cardiac arrest at a comparable age....
Preliminary Results on Cognitive Impairment in
A Cohort of Greek Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Cognitive impairment is a common phenomenon in multiple sclerosis (MS), occurring at all stages of the disease, even at the earliest, and can be a major source of disability, social impairment, and impoverished quality of life. Cognitive dysfunction is mainly focused on working memory, conceptual reasoning, verbal fluency, speed of information proc...
Πρόκεται για ασθενή 63 ετών με μικτή αισθητικοκινητική πολυνευροπάθεια στα πλαίσια παραπρωτειναιμιας με θετικά αντι-MAG και αντι- SPGP αντισώματα καθώς και παρουσία μονοκλωνικής IgM k γαμμοπάθειας αδιευκρίνιστης αιτιολογίας (MGUS) . Ο ασθενής είναι σταδιακά επιδεινούμενος παρά την ανοσοθεραπεία με γ-σφαιρίνη και κορτικοστεροειδή .
Από την διεθνή β...
Background
Little is known about whether tolerability and adherence to treatment can be influenced by weather and temperature conditions. The objective of this study was to assess monthly and seasonal adherence to and safety of sc IFN-β1a (Rebif®, Merck) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients using the RebiSmart® electronic autoi...
Introduction
Cognitive impairment (CI) can present in 40%–70% of MS patients and in the early stages of the disease. The Brief International Cognitive assessment for MS (BICAMS) is a brief, practical and potentially universal battery for cognitive assessment in MS.
Aim
To correlate cognitive function with clinical parameters as disease type, EDSS,...
The thalassemias are the most common single gene disorder in the world. Nowadays, the average life expectancy of patients in developed countries has increased significantly, while, there was an increase of complications. We aimed to investigate peripheral neuropathy and myopathy in this patient group using a neurophysiological study. We performed n...
Nrf2 και επά-γει τους αντιοξειδωτικούς κυτταρι-κούς μηχανισμούς με τελικό αποτέ-λεσμα τη μείωση της φλεγμονής και την προστασία των νευρικών κυττάρων από την οξειδωτική βλά-βη. Αυτός ο μηχανισμός δράσης φαίνε-ται, από τις κλινικές μελέτες που έχουν γίνει, ότι προσφέρει σημαντι-κή αποτελεσματικότητα στους ασθενείς με υποτροπιάζουσα πολ-λαπλή Σκλήρυν...
A number of biological and clinical characteristics typical of late life depression (LLD) has been suggested by recent research findings. The close association of LLD with cognitive impairment is now well documented and evidenced. However, it is still not clear whether it is depression that leads to cognitive decline, and in more severe cases, to d...
Chronic inflammation is characterized by longstanding microglial activation followed by sustained release of inflammatory mediators, which aids in enhanced nitrosative and oxidative stress. The sustained release of inflammatory mediators propels the inflammatory cycle by increased microglial activation, promoting their proliferation and thus stimul...
The thalassemias are the most common single gene disorder in the world. Over the last years, several reports have demonstrated neurological complications in beta-thalassemia patients. In most cases, these complications remained subclinical and were detected only during neuropsychological, neurophysiological, or neuroimaging evaluation. Cognitive im...
Oι νοσοτροποποιητικές αγωγές, με κυριότερο εκπρόσωπο την ιντερφερόνη βήτα, αποτελούν τον ακρογωνιαίο λίθο στην πρώτης γραμμής θεραπεία για την αντιμετώπιση της υποτροπιάζουσας διαλεί-πουσας πολλαπλής σκλήρυνσης (RRMS). Παράγοντες όπως οι ανεπιθύμητες ενέργειες και η ευκολία λήψης αυτών των θεραπειών επηρεάζουν άμεσα την ποιότητα ζωής των ασθενών κα...
Η εμφάνιση ογκόμορφων απομυελινωτικών εστιών (tumefactive MS) αποτελεί σπάνιο φαινόμενο στην πολλαπλή σκλήρυνση, με συχνότητα 1/1000 περιπτώσεις και παρατηρείται συνήθως ως πρώτη εκδήλωση της νόσου. Από την πρόσφατη ανασκόπηση της βιβλιογραφίας, η πιθανότητα εμφάνισης υποτροπής με ογκόμορφη απομυελινωτική εστία σε ασθενείς που λαμβάνουν φιγκολιμόδη...
We examined the sera of 103 demented patients of a mean age of 75 years and 60 age-matched healthy individuals, using ELISA, to investigate the levels of IgM antibodies against GM1, GD1b, and GQ1b gangliosides and their possible correlation with clinical parameters (age, severity, and type of dementia). All the individuals that demonstrated positiv...
Background:
Increasing evidence suggests that gangliosides act as important mediators in both de- and remyelination. The scope of the present research was to investigate the presence of immunoglobulin (Ig) M antibodies against GM1, GD1b, and GQ1b gangliosides in the sera of patients with dementia and the possible connection with clinical parameter...
Objective: The pathology of dementia as well as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is close related to the metabolism of lipids. During the aging and neurodegeneration the physicochemical properties of the membranes change, which may cause imbalancies in the proportion of membrane lipids and finally lead to the pathogenesis of dementia and AD. Gangliosides a...
Cerebral malformations (CMs) often cause epileptic seizures. Epilepsy surgery is an option for patients whose seizures remain resistant to treatment with anticonvulsant medications. The most common surgery is resection of the lesion that causes the epilepsy. Another common type of CM is arteriovenous malformation, which can cause seizures or hemorr...
Living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) starts with the onset of the very first symptom. Your first thought is to deny the problem and ignore it. If the symptom persists, fear overtakes denial, often combined with anger towards yourself. The dominating fear is that you are losing your mind, that what is happening is not real, that everything is in your...
Vascular and metabolic dysfunctions and mitochondrial failure are now believed to be contributors to Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis. Vascular dysfunction includes reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF), blood-brain barrier (BBB) disturbances and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Mitochondrial failure results in deregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis and...
Η φαμπριδίνη ή 4-αμινοπυριδίνη αποτελεί ένα εκλεκτικό αναστολέα των δυναμοτρόπων διαύλων καλίου και αναφέρεται ότι βελτιώνει τη βαδιστική ικανότητα και την κόπωση στους ασθενείς με σκλήρυνση κατά πλάκας (ΣκΠ). Ο σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η εκτίμηση της βελτίωσης της βαδιστικής ικανότητας σε ασθενείς με ΣκΠ που ξεκίνησαν αγωγή με φαμπριδίνη...
The epidemiologic profile of multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system, is not well defined in northern Greece. We analyzed retrospectively the records of the MS patients admitted in our Neurology Department, between the years 1979-2008. We studied a total of 1180 MS patients, with an average annual rate...
We present the case of a 14-year-old Caucasian female, with intracranial hemorrhage due to an extensive brainstem cavernous hemangioma, asymptomatic until the date of her admission. Further investigation revealed multiple brain cavernous hemangiomas with two supratentorial hemangiomas demonstrating signs of past bleeding, a cervical vertebral dyspl...
The aim of our investigation was to demonstrate the wide distribution of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA R), particularly the not-widely investigated 2A and 2B subunits, in the human adult cerebellum and hippocampus. Specimens of human hippocampus and cerebellum were obtained at the time of autopsy from two male individuals, aged 24...