Procedures
The study outpatient clinic has access to the modern technical equipment of the DZNE and the University Hospital Tübingen, which allows the most important neuroscientific examinations to be carried out. These include:
- Blood, CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) analysis, skin biopsy and stool samples
- Magnetic resonance tomography (MRI) in cooperation with the Radiological Department of University Hospital Tübingen
- Positron Emissions Tomography (PET) in cooperation with the institute for Nuclear Medicine of the University Hospital Tübingen
- Neuropsychological assessment
- Quantitative motor methods/actigraphy/gait analysis
Blood, cerebrospinal fluid analysis and skin biopsy
Biomaterial is extracted, analyzed and stored to determine different risk markers for neurodegenerative diseases. This should help to characterise neurodegenerative diseases in order to detect them as early as possible and diagnose them more accurately.
Neuropsychological Assessment
The aim of a neuropsychological assessment is to identify potential limitations of mental functions. For this purpose, special standardized tests are used. In addition, self-reports by probands, third-party reports by relatives and behavioral observations are also included. This enables various aspects of performance such as perception, attention, memory and speech, but also emotional experience, personality and everyday behaviour to be recorded and assessed with regard to possible disease-related changes.
Quantitative motor methods / actigraphy / gait analysis
Sensor- or camera-based systems allow movements to be recorded and thus motor abnormalities to be measured objectively. These techniques make it possible to detect disorders much earlier and to record the effects of new therapies objectively and precisely.
