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International Institute for Neurosciences

At St. Luke’s International Institute for Neurosciences, our mission is to provide outstanding clinical care, mold future neurologists and neurosurgeons, and to be an international leader in clinical and basic research on the disorders of the nervous system. By bringing scientific research and discovery from the bench to the bedside we hope to improve the lives of our patients.

With the country’s most advanced and most comprehensive diagnostic and treatment facilities, our team of neurologists and neurosurgeons offer diagnostic evaluation, consultation and management to a wide range of pediatric and adult neurological diseases of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves or muscles.

Patients can avail of the Institute’s facilities like the Neurocritical Care Unit, Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory, Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Acute Stroke Unit, Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, and Hearing and Balance Disorders Laboratory. The country’s first Comprehensive Stroke Services offers Brain Attack Prevention and an Acute Brain Attack Program specially designed to meet the needs of patients.

The Institute’s Neurosurgery Section pioneered in minimally invasive neurosurgery in the country. It is the country’s leading and most experienced team performing Stereotactic Radio Surgery, Endoscopic and Keyhole Neurosurgery as well as Cerebrovascular, Epilepsy and Spine Surgery, Image-Guided Surgery, and Pediatric and Functional Neurosurgery.

The Neurocritical Care Unit provides monitoring for potential deterioration, administration of emergency medications and intensive care of critically-ill neurologically-impaired patients. Similarly, a special Acute Stroke Unit is a specialized unit for the comprehensive treatment of patients with acute stroke.

Epileptics can now look forward to a multi-disciplinary service dedicated solely to their care through the Institute’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Program. This program offers a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic services which includes an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, also the first of its kind in the country which accurately diagnoses seizure types, a very important step in determining treatment strategy. Other diagnostic and ancillary procedures available are equipment for video-EEG monitoring, portable teledigital EEG, anti-epileptic drug level determination, epilepsy surgery, ketogenic diet treatment program, and Vagus Nerve Stimulation.

In partnership with the Research and Biotechnology Division, the St. Luke’s International Institute of Neurosciences established the Stroke Data Bank to fully understand and effectively fight stroke or “brain attack”, one of the leading causes of disability and mortality worldwide. At St. Luke’s Medical Center alone, more than 600 strokes are admitted annually. The Stroke Data Bank aims to determine the epidemiology of the stroke and its subtypes in the hospital-based population, analyze the effect of established and less established risk factors in the development of stroke, determine the short and long-term prognosis after a stroke including risk of recurrence, compare efficacy of different treatment modalities for acute and non-acute stroke, estimate enrollment of stroke patients in future clinical trials, and disseminate information about stroke prevention to the public, as well as report the results of the study to the local and international medical community.

As the country’s leader in the field of Neurosciences, the Institute is also home to five highly specialized centers manned by experts trained locally and abroad. One of these is the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center which provides a comprehensive and coordinated multidisciplinary approach to the care of adult and pediatric patients with brain and spinal cord tumors, and systemic cancer. The Center is manned by the Brain Tumor Board which is composed of specialists from neurology, neurosurgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, neuroradiology, nuclear medicine, neuropathology, psychiatry, pain management, and nursing.

Another center of excellence under the Institute is the Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Center which offers a multi-disciplinary team approach to sleep disorders using the combined expertise and experience of neurologists, pulmonologists (adult and pediatric), psychiatrists, and otorhinolaryngologists, all of whom are board certified in their fields of specialty with a common subspecialty in Sleep Medicine. The center boasts of a computerized sleep monitoring system as well as a six-week Insomnia Treatment Program which is a comprehensive approach using a broad range of treatment modalities with proven efficacy.

St. Luke’s Memory Center is a hospital-based multi-disciplinary service providing a range of detailed assessment, management and advisory services for individuals with memory complaints and dementia. The Memory Center handles patients, young or old, with memory disorders or in various stages of dementia. It is part of treatment continuum in collaboration with the hospital’s geriatric, neurologic and psychiatric services.

The Memory Enhancement Program (MEP), a hospital-based out-patient plan, provides detailed diagnosis and Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for individuals with memory and associated cognitive difficulties. Experts in charge of the program include neurologists, psychologists, nurse clinicians, an occupational therapist, and a data manager.

The Movement Disorders Center is a facility for the clinical assessment and management of various movement disorders with particular emphasis on Parkinson’s Disease, tremor disorders, myoclonus, chorea, dystonia, tic disorders, and tardive syndromes. The Center has state-of-the-art neurophysiological equipment which greatly fosters the detailed study of various movement disorders. Effective management of various movement disorders is stressed, utilizing the latest knowledge in pharmacotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, psychotherapy and, when applicable, surgery.

Created for the interdisciplinary evaluation and management of children and adolescents up to 18 years of age who manifest developmental or behavioral problems in the cognitive, motor, communicative and/or academic realms is the Neurodevelopmental Center. Some indications of developmental disabilities are poor head control at three months of age, failure to sit alone at 10 months, tantrums, hyperactive/uncooperative or oppositional behavior, poor eye contact, short attention span, and repetitive/unusual behavior not found in other kids of the same age.

St. Luke’s Neurodevelopmental team of physicians, child neurologists, neurophychologists, speech-language pathologists, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, educational specialists, social workers and nurses provide such services as: neurodevelopmental screening/surveillance of high risk neonates, infants and young children; neurodevelopmental evaluation of infants and young children; child psychiatric evaluation and counseling; neurophysiological evaluation; speech-language evaluation and therapy; occupational therapy; and music and play therapy.

The Mood Clinic was created to provide a comprehensive treatment approach to patients with mood disorders. With people leading very stressful lives, more cases of depression have been reported. Not too many people know that depression is a treatable illness involving an imbalance of brain chemicals called neuro-transmitters. It is not a character flaw or a sign of personal weakness. The Clinic also serves as a liaison with other mood programs locally and internationally. It also aims to generate research studies involving mood disorders.

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