Welcome to the Annemarie Tulleken Foundation

The Annemarie Tulleken Foundation gives financial support to the research activities that are led by neurosurgeon Prof. C.A.F. Tulleken at the UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands. These activities focus on vascular deaseases in the brains. Resulting strokes are one of the biggest causes of death worldwide.

By his life time dedication to vascular deseases Prof Tulleken and his group developed an innovative bypass technique, the so called ELANA (excimer laser assisted non-occlusive anastomosis) technique. Using laser technology this technique enables to connect bloodvessels for a bypass treating patients who do not have another safe treatment option. Through the activities of the foundation and others, more approximately 400 patients have been given aa new treatment option (until end of 2008).

Prof Tulleken retired in November 2005 from chairmenship in Utrecht. He still is full time dedicated to the project. He is spending time in pre clinical research, tutoring PhD students, teaching (foreign) neurosurgeons and supporting new hopsitals that start utilizing the ELANA technique in Europe and North America. The research team still exsist of neurosurgeons, medical engineers, biotechnicians and PhD students, using lab facilities on the campus of the UMC Utrecht in proximity of the clinics.

The goal of the research team is to keep improving bypass techniques and make a difference in their field of medicine. The newest inventions which are still under pre clinical investigation could be usefull for other fields of surgery like the hart. The team believes to have found a way to make the conventional bypass quicker and safer for the patient.