PD Dr. med. Gerasimos Baltsavias

PD Dr. med. Gerasimos Baltsavias is an internationally experienced neurosurgeon specializing in the endovascular treatment of complex neurovascular disorders of the brain, spinal cord, head, and neck. Since November 2017, he has served as Director of the Department of Endovascular Neurosurgery at the INI – International Neuroscience Institute® in Hannover.

Dr. Baltsavias completed his basic neurosurgical training in Greece at the General Hospital of Athens in 1997. He subsequently specialized in interventional neuroradiology and endovascular neurosurgery, completing advanced training at several leading neurovascular centers in Europe and the United States.

From 1997 to 1998, he trained at the Department of Neurosurgery of the University Hospital of Vienna (AKH) under Prof. Wolfgang Koos and Prof. Bernhard Richling. In 1998, he continued his training at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, Department of Neuroendovascular Surgery, under Prof. Alejandro Berenstein. This was followed in 1999 by further specialized training at the Radcliffe Infirmary, University of Oxford, under Prof. James Byrne and Dr. Andrew Molyneux. In 2000, he joined the Christian Doppler Medical Center in Salzburg, again working under Prof. Bernhard Richling.

This extensive international training provided the foundation for his specialization in the endovascular diagnosis and treatment of complex vascular disorders of the central nervous system.

From 2001 to 2008, Dr. Baltsavias founded and headed the Neuroendovascular Unit at the Interbalkan European Medical Center in Thessaloniki, Greece. During this period, from 2005 to 2007, he completed the renowned Master Course in Neurovascular Diseases established by Prof. Pierre Lasjaunias, one of the pioneers of modern interventional neuroradiology.

His further academic specialization took him to the Hôpital Lariboisière in Paris, where he conducted scientific work under Prof. Emmanuel Houdart on the endovascular treatment of large and complex basilar artery aneurysms. In 2007, he was awarded the international Diplôme InterUniversitaire in Neurovascular Diseases by Université Paris XI Sud and Mahidol University.

In 2009, Dr. Baltsavias joined the University Hospital Zurich, where he was appointed Senior Physician at the Institute of Neuroradiology under Prof. Anton Valavanis. He received his medical doctorate in 2011. In 2016, he completed his habilitation at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich, focusing on dural arteriovenous fistulas, and was awarded the Venia Legendi. He subsequently served as Senior Consultant and Head of Interventional Neuroradiology at University Hospital Zurich until October 2017.

Since November 2017, PD Dr. Baltsavias has served as Director of the Department of Endovascular Neurosurgery at the INI Hannover.

His clinical expertise covers the full spectrum of modern endovascular treatment of neurovascular disorders. His principal areas of specialization include cerebral aneurysms, cerebral arteriovenous malformations, cranial dural arteriovenous fistulas, and mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke.

Dr. Baltsavias also has extensive experience in the treatment of complex spinal vascular disorders, particularly spinal arteriovenous malformations and spinal dural arteriovenous fistulas. Another highly specialized area of his work is the endovascular treatment of arteriovenous shunts and vein of Galen malformations in newborns and children.

His clinical spectrum further includes stenoses of extracranial and intracranial vessels, traumatic arteriovenous fistulas, hemangiomas, and other vascular malformations of the head, face, and neck.

Another important application of endovascular techniques is the preoperative embolization of highly vascularized tumors of the brain, skull base, head, and neck. These include meningiomas, hemangioblastomas, paragangliomas or glomus tumors, schwannomas, and juvenile angiofibromas. The close integration of endovascular and microsurgical techniques allows individualized interdisciplinary treatment strategies to be developed, particularly for complex neurovascular disorders and highly vascular tumors.

PD Dr. Baltsavias is regularly invited as a speaker and faculty member at international scientific congresses, workshops, and neurovascular educational meetings. He also serves as a scientific reviewer for numerous international journals in neurology, neurosurgery, and interventional neuroradiology.

He is a member of several international professional societies, including the World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (WFITN), the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS), the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), the Swiss Society of Neuroradiology, and the Hellenic Neurosurgical Society.

His clinical work combines neurosurgical expertise with highly specialized endovascular experience. The objective is to identify the safest and most effective individualized treatment strategy for patients with complex neurovascular disorders – whether endovascular, microsurgical, or through a carefully planned combination of both approaches.