Epileptologist Professor Dr. med.             Christian E. Elger

The company msp group germany has been, since 2019, a cooperation partner of the world's leading epileptologist Professor Christian Elger, and of his neurological centre “Beta Neurology” at the Beta Klinik in Bonn (Beta Klinik Bonn). Thanks to our established links with this epileptology centre, we have made treatment and consultations with Professor Elger available to international patients all over the world.

Even during the pandemic we arrange urgent travel to Germany for the treatment of patients suffering from various forms of epilepsy — both children and adults. We guarantee prompt turnkey organisation of the trip to Bonn for examination and consultation: visa support, obtaining the package of documents from the clinic so that the patient and an accompanying person can enter the country without difficulty, transfers, interpreting and written translation services, booking a hotel or apartment, as well as maintaining communication between doctor and patient after the patient returns home and supplying the patient with the prescribed medicines.

Professor Chr. Elger – a world-renowned leading epileptologist, the first president of the German Section of the International League Against Epilepsy, since 2004 president of the German Society of Epileptology, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (FRCP), special representative for epilepsy treatment of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy, adviser on epileptology to the German Ministry of Health, and winner of numerous national and international awards for his achievements in the field of epilepsy and epilepsy surgery.

To arrange a remote consultation, please send us:

1. Information about the patient (first name and surname as written in the passport, full date of birth); please state your relationship to the patient if the patient is a third party).

2. Links or a CD with MRI scans (with contrast enhancement or without) no older than 1 year (if the patient's condition has changed noticeably, up-to-date scans are required). A written report on the scans is not obligatory.

3. EEG (if possible and available, preferably a night-time recording) no older than 1 year, together with the report (if the condition has changed noticeably and the number of seizures has increased significantly or their character has changed, an EEG recorded after these events is required).

4. Video recordings of the seizures and a video of the patient between seizures (it is of interest how the patient interacts with other people, speaks and plays).

5. An up-to-date medical report from the case history (interim discharge summary) with details of the course of the mother's pregnancy, the patient's full date of birth, weight and height, the history of the onset and progression of the disease, as well as the most recent tests and examinations, how they were tolerated, side effects of the drug therapy and the current medication regimen.

6. Laboratory test results and histological and genetic investigations (if available).

7. A description of cognitive (mental), psycho-emotional and psychomotor development. Ideally – the results of an early-development assessment using the N. Bayley scales, BSID-III (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development), which establish the child's level of development and identify any developmental delays. The test consists of three scales – cognitive, behavioural and motor. 

All medical reports must be translated by professional medical translators.

If the reports have not been translated into German or English, we will arrange their translation for a fee.

For all remote consultations the professor reviews how complete and informative the documentation provided is and assesses the quality of the scans and then tells us whether the consultation can go ahead.

In that case the client must send us the missing information. Please note that the quality of scans, because of the insufficient expertise of radiologists in your country, sometimes does not allow experts in Germany to assess changes in the brain (for example, the scanning protocols are not set up correctly, or the study was performed incorrectly — the scan volume was defined wrongly, for instance). The study will then have to be repeated. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the quality of most MRI results submitted to Professor Elger does not allow unequivocal conclusions to be drawn. The fact that they were performed on good equipment is no guarantee of the radiologists' expertise. When requesting a consultation with Prof. Elger, please be prepared for the possibility that you or your child will be advised to have a repeat brain MRI, because without this study it is impossible, for example, to determine the indications for one or another form of surgical treatment.

The cost of a video consultation and of a written consultation depends on its duration and on the time spent studying the clinical case.
The cost of a remote consultation includes our services:

• assessing whether a remote consultation is appropriate and determining its format;
• preparing the package of documents;
• drawing up the consultation request, including translation of all the questions put to the professor;
• translating Prof. Elger's interim answers and his requests for missing information;
• technical support (downloading the scans, providing an interpreter for the video consultation, etc.).

Please note: all questions to the doctor must be clearly formulated. The expert physician prepares all comments and recommendations on the treatment and control of the disease in accordance with the German telemedicine legislation in force.

How does msp group germany help?

1. Assessing whether a remote consultation is appropriate

Having reviewed your documents, our consulting doctor will tell you whether a remote consultation makes sense and, if it does not, will try to offer another option, for example an in-person consultation.

2. Assessing how informative and complete the medical information provided is

A huge amount of scattered and uninformative medical documentation does not in itself mean that it is informative for an expert medical review. We will tell you what information is missing.

3. Preparing the package of medical information

We have hardly ever come across a correctly drafted request for a remote consultation. Our task is to go into the details of every request, to formulate your questions to the consulting professor clearly and to ensure feedback between doctor and patient if the doctor needs additional information or examinations. Only a carefully prepared treatment request will have the maximum effect.

4. Help in choosing the format of the remote consultation

A live dialogue with a German consulting doctor in real time is very appealing. Nevertheless, this form of expert assessment is not always the most suitable one. It depends not only on the nature of the problem, but also on the working schedule of the particular specialist or medical institution. Taking all the details into account, we will recommend the most suitable format of remote consultation for you.

5. Help with settling payments with the consulting doctor.

6. Technical support

We take care not only of the necessary processing of information on digital media and of high-quality audio and video communication, but also of information security rules in line with the current EU legislation on the processing and storage of personal data.

7. Interpreter support

We will arrange a professional written translation of your medical documentation into German (if you do not already have translations) and will also provide interpreting during the online consultations.

Written translation of Prof. Elger's reports into your own language, as well as of the cost estimates for diagnostics and treatment received from his clinic, is not included in the price of the items listed above.

Approximate price range

• The cost of an in-person outpatient examination to select drug therapy — from 3,500 €.
• The cost of an in-person inpatient examination to select drug therapy — from 5,000 €.
• The cost of a video consultation (excluding interpreting services and our company's services for organisation and preparation) — from 550 €.
• The cost of a written remote "second opinion" from Professor Elger — from 1,050 €, including our services for organising communication.
  
• The cost of comprehensive pre-surgical epilepsy diagnostics, including non-invasive intensive video-EEG monitoring as an inpatient in an en-suite room with an accompanying person, incl. VAT on non-medical services — approx. 10,000 €.
  
• The cost of temporal lobe resection surgery, incl. the services of the neurosurgery and anaesthesiology departments, early rehabilitation, pre-operative differential diagnostics, preparation for the operation, consumables and medicines, the services of the specialist department, laboratory tests and histological examination of the removed tissue, including the cost of an en-suite room with an accompanying person and VAT on non-medical services — approx. 30,500 €.
• MRI-guided laser ablation surgery for left temporal lobe epilepsy — approx. 70,000 €
  

Under the leadership of Professor Christian Elger, the Beta Klinik became the first clinic in Germany in which, in cooperation with the neurosurgeon Prof. Thomas Gasser, laser ablation surgery of an epileptic focus was successfully performed for the first time.

The international reputation of the University Hospital Bonn is linked to its Centre for Neurology and Epileptology, opened at the hospital in 1979, which comprises the inpatient and outpatient departments of neurosurgery, psychiatry and the treatment of psychosomatic disorders. From 1990 the Centre was headed by the president of the German Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and Diagnostic Neuroimaging, chairman of the German Section of the International League Against Epilepsy, spokesman of the interregional research community, responsible editor of the international journals “Epilepsy and Behavior” and “Brain”, winner of numerous international and national awards in the field of epileptology, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, MD, Professor Christian E. Elger | Prof. Dr. med. Christian E. Elger (FRCP). The clinic successfully provides both surgical and drug therapy for epilepsy, as well as epileptological diagnostics including computer-based radiological and electrophysiological investigations and invasive diagnostics using depth electrodes and electrocorticography.

You can read more about the specialised neurological centre and the "Beta Epilepsy" centre on the Beta Klinik page in the "Clinics in Germany" section of our website.

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