Prof. Dr. med. Spyros Kollias

 

Curriculum Vitae

Main Goals, Keywords

• State of the art clinical diagnostic service for the neurologically diseased patient in a routine and in an emergency basis in the fields of neurosurgery, neurology, neuro-ophthalmology, ORL, maxillofacial surgery, and traumatology
• Clinical research in the fields of diagnostic and interventional neuroimaging and basic research in the fields of high resolution neuroimaging and functional brain mapping
• Teaching of neuroimaging and MR technology for Neuroradiology residents, medical students, and postdoctoral students from the neuroscience disciplines

Keywords: Neuroimaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), functional MRI, MR-DTI, functional brain mapping, MR Spectroscopy, MR Angiography, interventional MRI

Group Members

1 Prof. (group leader), 3 clinical fellows, 1 PhD MR physicist, 2 PhD postdocs, 2 PhD students, 3 MR technologists

Previous and Current Research

i) Structural imaging of neural tissue and neurovascular anatomy: a) high-resolution imaging of the white matter using DTI for the investigation of brain and spinal myeloarchitecture with clinical applications in neuro-oncology, vascular disease, trauma, and MS, b) clinical applications of advanced imaging techniques including MRS, DTI, Perfusion MRI, for increasing the specificity of MR technology in brain tumors, vascular disease and neurodegeneration, c) high-resolution vascular imaging and investigations of hemodynamics in cerebral aneurysms using advanced computational applications (SNF funding)

 

Figure: Reconstruction of major white matter tracts and their intracortical terminations using DTI T. Järmann et al AJNR (2008) 29:146-150

ii) Functional brain mapping using fMRI: several methodological and clinical projects have been pursued over the last years including methodological advancements and clinical applications. Specific on-going projects: a) functional organization of the sensorimotor system and its postlesional reorganization in patients with intracranial lesions (tumors, stroke) (SNF funding), b) functional analysis of brain plasticity and recovery of function in paraplegia (NCCR/SNF, IRP and industry funding), c) reorganization of language function in aphasic patients (NCCR funding), d) preoperative cortical mapping for treatment planning.

 

Figure: Activations of the sensorimotor network during a simple motor task overlaid on a flattened cortical surface. S. Kollias et al. Brain Res. Rev. (2001) 36(2-3):185-195

iii) Advanced imaging of the spinal cord: including high-resolution anatomical imaging for accurate definition of gray and white matter, MR spectroscopy and fMRI for obtaining metabolic and functional information, and DTI for obtaining quantitative microstructural information on tissue composition with applications in oncological, vascular traumatic and neurodegenerative pathologies affecting the human spinal cord. (SNF, Swiss MS Society funding).

 

Figures: T2-w sag. MRI, DTI reconstructions of the white matter tracts and MR spectroscopy in a high-grade cervical glioma
P. Summers et al. AJNR (2006) 27 :1952-1961
A. Henning, et al. MRM (2008) 59:1250-1258

Techniques and Equipment

• Two 1.5-T MRI’s with high-speed gradients for ultra-fast imaging, one 3-T MR system, access to one 7-T system
• Extensive structural and functional imaging postprocessing capabilities

Selected Publications

• von Meyenburg J, Wilm BJ, Weck A, Petersen J, Gallus E, Mathys J, Schaetzle E, Schubert M, Boesiger P, von Meyenburg K, Goebels N, Kollias S. Spinal Cord Diffusion-Tensor Imaging and Motor-evoked Potentials in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Microstructural and Functional Asymmetry. Radiology. 2013 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print]
• Winklhofer S, Kollias S. Incidental MRI finding of a pons tuberculoma in a patient with so-far-undiagnosed multisystemic tuberculosis infection. Clin Imaging. 2012 Sep;36(5):623-5. Epub 2012 Jun 8.
• Hotz-Boendermaker S, Hepp-Reymond MC, Curt A, Kollias SS. Movement observation activates lower limb motor networks in chronic complete paraplegia. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2011 Jun;25(5):469-76. Epub 2011 Feb 22.

Selected Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia

• “Neuroimaging”, 2-day Blockkurs fort he postdoctoral students of the Center of Neuroscience (ZNZ) Zurich. (once per semester)
• FMRI Colloquium: Wednesdays 17:30-18:15, four times per semester.

Collaborators

INI Zurich (Prof. M-C Hepp-Raymond), IBT Zurich (Prof. P. Boesiger), Paraplegic Care, Balgrist, Uni Zurich (Profs. V. Dietz, B. Schurch), ETH Zurich (Prof. R. Riener), Neuropsychology, Uni Zurich (Prof. L. Jänke, Dr. M. Meyer)

Funding

SNF, NCCR Neural Plasticity and Repair, IRP, Swiss MS Society, Industry.