by Tatia Aprasidze, Tbilisi, Georgia
I would like to express my gratitude to the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) for an opportunity to do a nine-month EAN Research Fellowship at the Department of Neuropaediatrics, Development, and Rehabilitation, University Children’s Hospital, Inselspital (Bern, Switzerland). I am grateful to Prof. Maja Steinlin for her support and guidance throughout this time.
The most amount of time I spent at the neuroradiology department where I learned several modern techniques for analysing neuroimaging. I worked under the supervision of PD Dr Arsany Hakim (neuroradiologist) for several hours every week, which resulted in invaluable contributions to our project. Volumetry of acute ischaemic stroke has been made by the highly technical and time-consuming method of computerised sequencing, the easy-to-perform volumetry of ABC/2 method, and in addition, the localisation-based volumetry of modASPECT score. This is the first time these analyses have been made in childhood stroke. Preliminary results of the study were presented at the International Pediatric Stroke Organization (IPSO) Congress.
I had an opportunity to closely collaborate with the research team of the hospital and attended research meetings. Under the supervision of Prof. Regula Everts, I had discussions about my research work that helped focus and refine our research questions which have contributed greatly to the direction of the research.
It was a great pleasure to be acquainted with: Dr med. Mária Regényi who introduced me to the Swiss Neuropediatric Stroke Register (SNPSR) and with whom I worked during the data collection process. Dr Phil. Leonie Steiner helped to address specific research questions and was always ready to share her knowledge and experience in data analyses. Dr med. Gabriela Oesch was actively involved in the research, and always ready to share her time for support and sharing her experience.
In addition, to research activities, I was able to join clinical rounds where complex cases of neurological patients were discussed with the supervision of Prof. Andrea Klein. I had an opportunity to observe acute stroke care by a multidisciplinary stroke team at the hospital.
I would like to mention the warm, friendly and attentive attitude of the entire staff, which I always felt.
Working under the supervision of Prof. Steinlin allowed me to advance my research and clinical skills in cerebrovascular disorders. For all this experience I am very grateful to the EAN, the knowledge gained during the fellowship will help me move one step ahead in optimising stroke care for the Georgian population on my return to Georgia.
