Neurological Aspects of Spinal Cord Injury

Part 1 Basics: Epidemiology.- Neuroanatomy.- Pattern of Neurological Dysfunction.- Natural Disease Course.- Part 2 Non-traumatic spinal cord injury: Ischemia.- Neuroimmunology.- Cord Compression (metastasis, hemorrhage, empyema, spondylodiscitis).- CNS tumors (glioma, ependymoma).- Pearls: myelopathy.- Part 3 Diagnostics: Blood/CSF workup.- Spinal Cord Imaging.- Spinal Cord Neurophysiology.- Part 4 Neurological Complications: Pain.- Spasticity.- Syringomyelia.- Neurogenic respiratory failure.- Part 5 Autonomic nervous system dysfunction: Neuro Internal Medicine (cardiovasc, endocrine).- Neurourology.- Neurogastroenterology.- Part 6 Therapy: Neurorehabilitation - upper extremity restauration.- Neurorehabilitation - lower extremity restauration.- Neuroregeneration.- Neuroprotection.- Neuroprosthetics.- Translation - relevance of SCI animal models.- Translation - clinical trial design.

Prof. Norbert Weidner, a board certified neurologist, has been medical director and head of the Spinal Cord Injury Center at Heidelberg University Hospital since 2009. He oversees both the comprehensive care for acutely and chronically spinal cord injured individuals as well as all research activities concerning neuroregeneration and neurorehabilitation in spinal cord injury. He received his medical degree at the University of Würzburg in 1995. He completed his residency at the Neurology Departments at Würzburg and Regensburg University Hospital and the Neuropathology department at Heidelberg University Hospital to become a board-certified neurologist in 2004. A three-year-long postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Neurosciences, Center for Neural Repair, University of California, San Diego (1996-1999) shaped his research focus towards regenerative therapies following traumatic spinal cord injury. Accordingly, he successfully finished his postdoctoral studies with a thesis on "regenerative strategies for axonal repair in the injured peripheral and central nervous system" in 2005 at Regensburg University Hospital. He is the author of more than 80 research papers and is the editor of recent textbooks focusing on repair strategies for the injured spinal cord and neurological aspects of spinal cord injury. He is a member of the German Speaking Society for Paraplegia (DMGP), Germany Society for Neurology (DGN), Germany Society for Neuroscience (NWG), Society for Neuroscience (SFN) and the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCOS). He currently coordinates all clinical guideline activities at the DMGP. He has received several spinal cord injury related research awards. He was principal investigator in a phase I anti-Nogo trial and is currently running a subsequent multi-center phase II trial, in addition to several clinical trials investigating neurorehabilitative interventions.

Rüdiger Rupp received his diploma in electrical