Dr. Annu Aggarwal

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Dr. Annu Aggarwal

Experience :
32 Years
Education :
MBBS, MD (Gen Medicine), DNB (Neurology), MRCP (UK)
Specialization :
Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology
Department :

Introduction

Dr. Aggarwal graduated with an MBBS from LTM Medical College, Mumbai and obtained her postgraduate 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 specialised in neurology and was awarded the Diplomate of the National Board (Neurology) from the NBE, New Delhi. Recently she was awarded the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of UK (MRCP (UK)) by the Royal College of London.

After being awarded DNB (Neurology) Dr Aggarwal continued at Jaslok Hospital as a postdoctoral fellow, and developed a new paradigm to diagnose and treat people with Wilsons 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 Parkinsons 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, 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 Parkinsons Disease, violent behaviours in sleep (REM behaviour disorders), memory impairment, problems of mobility in patients with Downs Syndrome, and respiratory problems in people with neurodegenerative diseases.

KDAH Experience

  • Dr Annu Aggarwal is a senior consultant neurologist at KDAH, where she deals with brain and nervous system disorders. These can be genetic or arise due to brain injuries, infections or degeneration; they can strike suddenly or develop slowly over time; and can manifest themselves not only as cognitive problems but also with impairment in vision, gait or even behaviour. Therefore, early and accurate diagnosis and intervention are essential for recovery. Dr Aggarwal with her 25 years experience in medicine, aided by state-of-the-art laboratory, neuroimaging, surgical and rehabilitative resources available at KDAH, is dedicated to providing the best of care to patients with neurological ailments.
  • Dr Aggarwal specializes in caring for people with cognitive, behavioural, and memory problems. Such problems can develop with aging, as a result of neurodegenerative dementias, and are increasingly common with an ageing population. They can also be seen in younger patients due to neuro-metabolic disorders such as Wilson disease, epilepsy, neurodegeneration or other. Dr Aggarwal is at the forefront both in treating patients with such disorders, and in developing better diagnosis and treatment strategies for improving their care.

Specialist Clinics
Dr Aggarwal runs the Wilson Disease Clinic and Alzheimer & Memory Clinic at the Kokilaben Hospital.

  • The Alzheimer and Memory Clinic at KDAH is a specialist clinic for people with neurological problems that result in decline in memory, confusion, difficulty in speech and understanding, change in personality, aggressive behaviour, hallucinations, or depression and problems in mobility. 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 counseling services, help target rehabilitative goals and equip the family for KDAH supported long-term home care.The Wilson disease Clinic at KDAH is the first clinic in the country dedicated to providing care to patients with Wilson Disease. The clinic was launched to fulfill the unmet need for early diagnosis and specialist care to patients and families with Wilson disease.
  • The Clinic offers a comprehensive care program including neurology and liver-specialist consultation, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, psychotherapy, speech therapy and gait training. Since Wilson disease is a familial we also offer family counselling services, screening of siblings and genetic counselling.
    In the six years from its inception, KDAH has established itself as the centre for excellence for Wilson disease and largest centre for care of patients with Wilson disease in the world. The Clinic currently serves over 250 families with Wilson disease, from various parts of India as well those from other countries in South Asia and the USA. In addition to providing direct patient care, the Clinic supports physicians and centres involved in care of patients with Wilson disease within India, as well as in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia, China, USA, Germany and the UK.
  • Beside her clinical work, Dr Aggarwal maintains an active research program that benefits both her patients and the wider medical field. She has won several awards for her academic and research work, including the highly competitive Hargobind Foundation Scholarship, Dr Jane Page Scholarship, and several conference grants from the Movement Disorders Society and other organizations. She has published numerous papers in leading neurology and medical journals, book chapter in neurology textbooks and encyclopedias, and given over 40 presentations in international conferences.
  • Dr Aggarwal is actively involved in increasing awareness about neurological disorders among lay people, patients and their families, as well as professionals. She has organised and participated in numerous national and international conferences for education and advocacy of mental health and neurological disorders.
  • At the Kokilaben Hospital Dr Aggarwal 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, Adelaide, Australia; Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney, Australia; Westphalian Wilhelms-University, Munster, Germany; University of Lubeck, Lubeck, Germany; Harokopio University, Athens, Greece; University College of London, Queen Square, London, UK; and University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.

Fellowships and Memberships

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

Awards and Achievements

  • Guided poster tour at the 19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, San Diego, USA, 2014, for their work entitled, "Drug response to zinc and D-penicillamine in ATP7B mutant hepatic cell lines"
  • Guided poster tour at the 19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders , San Diego, USA, 2014, for their work entitled, "Establishment and validation of the first stable human ATP7B knockout hepatoma cell line: A Wilson Disease cell model"
  • Best Paper award at the 21st Annual Indian Academy of Neurology Conference, Indore, India, for their work entitled, "Deep Brain Stimulation in Neuroacanthocytosis and Tardive Dyskinesia."
  • Shortlisted for Best Paper at the 113th Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), Washington DC, USA, 2013, for their work entitled, "Correlation of brain MRI abnormalities in Wilson disease with clinical disability"
  • Best paper award at the 5th International Dystonia Symposium, Barcelona, Spain, 2011 for their work on Brain Iron deposition disorders entitled, "Indian-subcontinent NBIA: Unusual phenotypes, novel PANK2 mutations, and undetermined genetic forms.

Unique Contribution

Key Publications At The KH 2009-2016

  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, "Neurologic Aspects of Gastrointestinal / HepatoBiliary Diseases: Commonly used gastrointestinal drugs", In Neurological Aspects of Systemic Disease, Volume 120, Editors: Biller J and Ferro JM. Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series, Third Series Editor: Aminoff MJ, Boller F, Swaab DF, Elsevier, vol. 100, pp.633-643,2014
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt, "Hyperkinetic movement disorders & Wilson disease', Neurological Practice: An Indian perspective, Edition 2, Editors: Khadilkar S, Wadia, NH, Elsevier, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Fung V, Thompson P. Hyperkinetic Movement Disorders. In Hankey's Clinical Neurology, Second Edition. Editors: Gorelick P, Testai F, Hankey G, Wardlaw JM. CRC Press, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, "Wilson Disease: an update", In Metals Related Neurodegenerative Diseases, International Reviews of Neurobiology, Editors: Bhatia KP and Scheinder SA, Elsevier, 2013Aggarwal A, Thompson PD, "Unusual focal dyskinesias", In Hyperkinetic Movement Disorders, Volume 100 (3rd series), Editors: W.J. Weiner and E. Tolosa. Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series, Third Series Editors:Aminoff MJ, Boller F, Swaab DF, Elsevier B.V., pp.617-628, 2011.
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, "Neurologic Aspects of Gastrointestinal / HepatoBiliary Diseases: Commonly used gastrointestinal drugs", In Neurological Aspects of Systemic Disease, Volume 1, Editors: Biller J and Ferro JM. Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series, Third Series Editor: Aminoff MJ, Boller F, Swaab DF, Elsevier B.V., 2011Aggarwal A, Geschwind MD "Rapidly progressive dementias", In Reviews in Neurology Editors: Khadilkar S, Singh G Indian Academy of Neurology, pp. 307-28, 2011
  • Aggarwal A, Thompson PD. Belly Dancers Dyskinesias. In Encyclopedia of Movement Disorders, vol. 1. Editors: Kompoliti K, Verhagen Metman L. Oxford Academic Press, pp. 127-128, 20102016
  • Chandhok G, Horvath J, Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, Zibert A, Schmidt HH. Functional analysis and drug response to zinc and D-penicillamine in stable ATP7B mutant hepatic cell lines.World J Gastroenterol, vol 22(16), pp. 4109-19, 2016
  • Kapoor H, Wagh H, Tapiawala S, Aggarwal A. Anaesthetic management of a known case of serotonin syndrome undergoing renal transplant. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol, vol 32(3), pp. 399-400, 2016

2015

  • Chandhok G, Horvath J, Aggarwal A, Wieacker P, Bhatt M, Zibert A, Schmitt HH, Sauer V, Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, Schmidt HH. Drug response to zinc and D-penicillamine in ATP7B mutant hepatic cell lines",19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders , San Diego, USA, 2015
  • Chandhok G, Schmitt N, Sauer V, Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, Schmidt HH. Establishment and validation of the first stable human ATP7B knockout hepatoma cell line: A Wilson disease cell model",19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders , San Diego, USA, 2015
  • Chandhok G, Zibert A, Schmidt HH, Bhatt M, Aggarwal A. Phenotypic characterization of patients with p.C271* Wilson disease mutation; the most frequentATP7B mutation in India",19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders , San Diego, USA, 2015
  • Gupta S, Aggarwal A, Munshi M, Sanghvi D, Bhatt M. Malignant Wilsons disease: Extensive cerebral parenchymal involvement on MRI brain, severe neurological disability and poor therapeutic response",19th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders , San Diego, USA, 2015

2014

  • Chandhok G, Schmitt N, Sauer V, Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, Schmidt HH. The effect of Zinc and D-Penicillamine in a stable human hepatoma ATP7B knockout cell line. PLoS ONE, vol. 9(6), e98809, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt, "The pragmatic treatment of Wilson disease', Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M. Importance of adequate decoppering in Wilson disease. Movement Disorders, vol. 29(8), p. 1089, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, "Complete Neurological Recovery in Wilson disease: experience with 100 consecutive patients seen from 2005-2013", AAN, Philadelphia, USA, 2014
  • Aggarwal A, Munshi M, Sanghvi D, Ravan A, Parekh S, Rane P, Bhatt M, "A novel objective brain MRI Assessment Scale for Wilson disease (MAS for WD)", AAN, Philadelphia, USA, 2014

2013

  • Chhabria MA, Bhatt M, Aggarwal A. 2013a, Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegenration from Lys478glu- Pantothenate Kinase 2 mutation presenting as adult onset focal dystonia", Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 2013. Chhabria MA, Bhatt M, Balasubramanium A, Aggarwal A. 2013b,"Deep Brain Stimulation in Neuroacanthocytosis and Tardive Dyskinesia", Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 2013
  • Chhabria MA, Bhatt M, Aggarwal A. 2013a, "Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegenration from Lys478glu- Pantothenate Kinase 2 mutation presenting as adult onset focal dystonia", Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 2013.
  • Chhabria MA, Bhatt M, Balasubramanium A, Aggarwal A. 2013b. "Deep Brain Stimulation in Neuroacanthocytosis and Tardive Dyskinesia", Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 2013Chhabria M, Todorov T, Chandhok G, Tilve S, Zibert A, Bhatt M, Schmidt HH, Aggarwal A. "Wilson disease mutation pattern with genotype-phenotype correlations from Western India: confirmation of p.C271* as a common Indian mutation and identification of 14 novel mutations", Ann Indian Acad Neurol, 2013
  • Aggarwal A, Todorov T, Chandhok G, Tilve S, Zibert A, Bhatt M, Schmidt HH "Wilson disease mutation pattern with genotype-phenotype correlations from Western India: confirmation of p.C271* as a common Indian mutation and identification of 14 novel mutations", In print Annals of Human Genetics, 2013
  • Stamelou M, Lai SC, Aggarwal A, Schneider SA, Houlden H, Yeh TH, Batla A, Lu CS, Bhatt M, Bhatia KP "Dystonic opisthotonus: A 'red flag' for neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation syndromes?", In print Movement Disorders, 2013
  • Aggarwal A, Munshi M, Sanghvi D, Ravan A, Parekh S, Bhatt M, "A novel objective Brain MRI Assessment Scale for Wilson disease (BMAS for WD)", 113th Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), Washington DC, USA, April , 2013
  • Munshi M, Aggarwal A, Sanghvi D, Ravan A, Parekh S, Bhatt M, "Correlation of brain MRI abnormalities in Wilson disease with clinical disability", 113th Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), Washington DC, USA, April, 2013.

2012

  • Aggarwal A, Todorov T, Chandhok G, Tilve S, Zibert A, Schmidt HH, Bhatt M, "Study of mutational pattern of patients with Wilson Disease from Western India", MDS 16th Intl. Cong. Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Dublin, Ireland, June 2012
  • Shrivastava M, Lahoti S, Sanghvi D, Aggarwal A, Hastak S "Stand alone mechanical thrombectomy (with penumbra system) for Acute Ischemic Stroke based on MR imaging: single center experience", Neurology India, vol. 60(4), pp. 406-414, 2012
  • Aggarwal A, Bhatt M, "Recovery from severe neurological Wilson disease with copper chelation", MDS 16th Intl. Cong. Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Dublin, Ireland, June 2012

2011

  • Schneider S, Aggarwal A, Houlden H, Silverdale M, Paisan-Ruiz C, Hardy J, Bhatia K, Bhatt M, "Indian-subcontinent NBIA: Unusual phenotypes, novel PANK2 mutations, and undetermined genetic forms", 5th International Dystonia Symposium, Barcelona, Spain, Oct, 2011 Aggarwal A. "Wilson Disease", Pharma Bio World Magazine, pp. 36-38, 2011

2010

  • Aggarwal A, Schneider SA, Houlden H, Silverdale M, Paudel R, Paisan-Ruiz C, Desai S, Munshi M, Sanghvi D, Hardy J, Bhatia KP, Bhatt M, "Indian-subcontinent NBIA: Unusual phenotypes, novel PANK2 mutations and undetermined genetic forms", Movement Disorders, vol. 25(10), pp. 1424-31, 2010

2009

  • Aggarwal A, Aggarwal N, Nagral A, Jankharia G, Bhatt M, "A novel Global Assessment Scale for Wilson Disease (GAS for WD)", Movement Disorders, vol. 24, pp.509-18, 2009.

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