Dr. Annu Aggarwal | Centre for Neuro Sciences - Neurology

Qualifications

MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DNB (Neurology)

Specialty Interest

Neurology

Specialty Interest

Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology

Fellowships

• Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, India

Last two work place experience

• Royal Adelaide Hospital, and University Department of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, India.

Associations/Professional Membership

• The Movement Disorder Society
• Medical Council of Maharashtra
• Diplomate of National Board
• Indian Academy of Neurology
• Neurological Society of India
• Maharashtra Association of Neurology Parkinson's Disease Foundation of India

Biography

Dr Annu Aggarwal is a neurologist and specialist in Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology. At Kokilaben Hospital, she is involved in caring for people with cognitive and behavioural problems. Such problems can develop with aging, as a result of neurodegenerative dementias such as Alzheimer's, Fronto-temporal dementias (FTDs), Diffuse Lewy Body Disease (DLB), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), or vascular dementias (following stroke). These problems are also seen in younger patients due to neurodegeneration or neuro-metabolic diseases like Wilson's disease, head injuries, epilepsy and infections among others. Dr. Aggarwal runs the Alzheimer's disease and Memory clinic at the Kokilaben Hospital (KH). This is a specialist clinic for people with neurological problems resulting in decline in memory, confusion, difficulty in speech and understanding, change in personality, aggressive behaviour, hallucinations or depression. The clinic offers a comprehensive dementia care program including neurology consultation, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, psychotherapy, speech therapy and gait training. Since cognitive and behavioural problems affect the family along with the patient, we also offer family counselling services, help target rehabilitative goals and equip the family for KH supported long term home care.

Dr Aggarwal graduated with an MBBS from LTM Medical College, Mumbai and obtained her postgraduate MD degree in Internal Medicine from TN Medical College, Mumbai. She worked as Intensive Care Unit Associate at Hinduja Hospital before joining Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai. There she specialized in neurology and was awarded the Diplomate of the National Board (Neurology) from the NBE, New Delhi

She continued at Jaslok Hospital as a postdoctoral fellow, and developed a new paradigm to diagnose and treat people with Wilson's disease, including a clinical scale to assess disease progression and treatment response. Her other work during this period involved the management of neurological diseases resulting from liver failure and iron deposition in the brain, and an epidemiological study of Parkinson's disease among Parsees residing in Mumbai. In 2008-09, Dr Aggarwal was a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive and behavioural neurology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), Adelaide. She was also affiliated with the University of Adelaide's Department of Medicine and the South Australian brain rehabilitation services at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre. At RAH she studied the problems of hallucinations in people with Parkinson's disease, violent behaviours in sleep (REM behaviour disorders), memory impairment, problems of mobility in patients with Down's syndrome, and respiratory problems in people with neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr Aggarwal has won several awards for her academics and research, including the highly competitive Hargobind Foundation scholarship, and several conference grants from the Movement Disorders Society and other organizations. She has published numerous papers in leading neurology and medical journals, and given over 30 presentations in international conferences. She complements her clinical practice with active research in partnership with fellow neurologists and other specialists in India, as well as at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, University of Adelaide, Australia, University of Luebeck, Germany, and National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, London.

Clinics Incharge of

• Alzheimer's & Memory Clinic
• Wilson Disease Clinic

Key Publications
Medical Journals

• Aggarwal A, Bhatt M,
  "Eye sign in an 18 year man with psychosis",
  British Medical Journal, vol. 339, pp. b3494, 2009
• Aggarwal A, Warren JE, Warren JD, Thompson PD,
  "Facial reflex hyperexcitability in geniospasm suggests central origin",
  Movement Disorders, vol. 24, pp. 783-84, 2008
• Aggarwal A,Aggarwal N, Nagral A, Jankharia G, Bhatt M,
  "A novel Global Assessment Scale for Wilson's Disease (GAS for WD)",
  Movement Disorders, vol. 24, pp. 509-18, 2009
• Aggarwal A,Vaidya S, Shah S, Singh J, Desai S, Bhatt M,
  "Reversible parkinsonism and T1W pallidal hyperintensities in acute liver failure",
  Movement Disorder, vol. 21, pp. 1986-1990, 2006
• Schneider S, Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, Dupont E, Tisch S, Limousin P, Lee P, Quinn N, Bhatia K,
  "Severe tongue protrusion dystonia: clinical syndromes and some treatment options",
  Neurology, vol. 67, pp. 940-943, 2006

Book Chapters

• Aggarwal A, Thompson PD
  "Unusual focal dyskinesias",
  In Movement Disorders, Handbook of Clinical Neurology. Editor: Weiner WJ
  Elsevier Publishers, Philadelphia. In print 2009
• Aggarwal A, Thompson PD
  "Belly Dancers Dyskinesias",
  In Encyclopedia of Movement Disorders. Editors: Kompoliti K, Verhagen. Elsevier Publishers, Philadelphia. In print 2009.

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