The NeuroMedical Center Provides Specialized Care

Since 1976, the NeuroMedical Center has provided the full range of neurological care
mature Baton Rougeans expect.

Founder Dr. Thomas Flynn explains, “We have a very good capability to take care of
patients in the older age groups as they experience problems with deterioration of central
nervous system functions.”

Dr. Flynn says the most common conditions in aging adults are, in everyday language,
memory problems and back pain.

While some memory loss is normal and even to be expected, Dr. Flynn points out, “(A
neurologist can distinguish whether a patient”s complaint is abnormal or not. A patient or
his family knows it”s time to consult a specialist) when they notice there”s difficulty in
the patient”s carrying out normal activities of daily living, particularly where recent
memory is concerned.”

He cited examples of exaggerated forgetfulness such as a person”s forgetting whether
he”d washed his hair when he was stepping out of the shower or whether he”d turned off
the stove.

Dr. Flynn says a series of tests yields results the neurologist uses to differentiate among
common memory problems and to distinguish the truly concerning ones. For coping with
the fear that usually surrounds memory loss, he emphasizes, “The best way is to have a
formal evaluation because the majority of patients don”t have anything wrong at all and
it”s very conducive to peace of mind to have a trained person tell you that.”
Regarding back pain, Dr. Flynn says, “On the neurological side, we provide a lot of
assistance in the evaluation and treatment in the almost ubiquitous condition of spinal
degeneration.”

Spinal degeneration, he explains, comes normally with aging. Progressive back pain and
its limitation of a patient”s activities are very common complaints among aging adults.
But, Dr. Flynn says, the good news is back pain “very frequently responds to structured,
conservative treatment. We emphasize both nonsurgical and surgical remedies for back
pain.”

Some of the nonsurgical approaches include physical therapy, medication, occupational
therapy and various types of injections. He says the key to successfully treatment is
correct neurological diagnosis.

“One has to remember that neurological surgeons are trained in both musculoskeletal
diseases and neurology and the spine is not just a bony structure. It is a bony structure
that contains the spinal cord and the nerves. A neurologist has the training and the skills
to evaluate the symptoms and the studies and to arrive at the diagnosis that a person less
trained in the discipline of neurology might not have,” Dr. Flynn says.

The NeuroMedical Center operates a 23-bed in-patient surgical hospital, a 27 bed rehabilitation
hospital and a clinic with 31 physicians specializing in neurology, endovascular
neuroradiology, neuropsychology, neuroradiology, physiatry and neurosurgery.

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