Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marin Guentchev, MD, PhD

Information

Assoc. Prof. Guentchev is a graduate of the National High School of Ancient Languages and Cultures "Konstantin Cyril the Philosopher".

In 1997, he graduated in Medicine from the University of Vienna, Austria, where he later also obtained his specialty in neurosurgery. In 1998, he completed his mandatory military service, finishing a course for military physicians at the Reserve Officers' School "Hristo Botev" in Pleven.

From 1999 to 2001, he worked at the University Hospital of the University of Vienna, and from 2001 to 2004 at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Assoc. Prof. Guentchev progressed through all stages of a medical career, from resident at the University Hospital of the University of Vienna to Head of the Neurosurgery Clinic at UMVAL "St. Anna".

Since April 2016, he has been running his own outpatient clinic for the treatment of spinal diseases in Sofia.

Since 2011, he has also been Head of Department at the Neurosurgery Clinic, Klinikum Idar-Oberstein, a multi-profile hospital affiliated with the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.

Since 2015, he has been Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany.

Assoc. Prof. Guentchev has extensive experience in neurosurgery, and in particular in spinal surgery and pain surgery. In 2014, he published an original surgical technique for the treatment of iliosacral pain with neurostimulation in the journal Neuromodulation. Between 2011 and 2014, he led an international team of scientists from Bulgaria, Germany, and Austria in the study of primary malignant brain tumors. The latest results were published in the journal Cancer in 2014.

Awards:

• 2014 DGNC Posterpreis Neuromodulation
• 2002 Pfizer Österreich ZNS Preis
• 2000 Pfizer Österreich ZNS Preis
• 1999 Erste Bank Preis der Österreichischen Ärztekammer
• 1998 EFNS Meeting, Poster Prize

Scientific publications:

• Guentchev M, Preuss C, Rink R, Peter L, Sailer M, Tuettenberg J. Long-Term Reduction of Sacroiliac Joint Pain With Peripheral Nerve Stimulation. Operative Neurosurgery, 2017 Oct;13(5):634-639. PubMed: 28922873
• Sailer MH, Sarvepalli D, Brégère C, Fisch U, Guentchev M, Weller M, Guzman R, Bettler B, Ghosh A, Hutter G. An Enzyme- and Serum-free Neural Stem Cell Culture Model for EMT Investigation Suited for Drug Discovery. J Vis Exp. 2016 Aug 23;(114). PubMed: 27583933
• Birner P, Tchorbanov A, Natchev S, Tuettenberg J, Guentchev M. The chemokine receptor CXCR7 influences prognosis in human glioma in an IDH1-dependent manner. J Clin Pathol. 2015 Oct;68(10):830-4. PubMed: 26109200
• Guentchev M, Preuss C, Rink R, Peter L, Wocker EL, Tuettenberg J. Technical Note: Treatment of Sacroiliac Joint Pain with Peripheral Nerve Stimulation. Neuromodulation. 2015 Jul;18(5):392-6. PubMed: 25354279
• Birner P, Pusch S, Christov C, Mihaylova S, Toumangelova-Uzeir K, Natchev S, Schoppmann SF, Tchorbanov A, Streubel B, Tuettenberg J, Guentchev M. Mutant IDH1 inhibits PI3K/Akt signaling in human glioma. Cancer. 2014 Aug 15;120(16):2440-7. PubMed: 24771584
• Birner P, Toumangelova-Uzeir K, Natchev S, Guentchev M. Expression of mutated isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 in gliomas is associated with p53 and EGFR expression. Folia Neuropathol. 2011;49(2):88-93. PubMed: 21845536
• Maresch J, Birner P, Zakharinov M, Toumangelova-Uzeir K, Natchev S, Guentchev M. Additive effect on survival of Raf kinase inhibitor protein and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 in high-grade glioma. Cancer. 2011 Jun 1;117(11):2499-504. PubMed: 24048798
• Birner P, Toumangelova-Uzeir K, Natchev S, Guentchev M. STAT3 tyrosine phosphorylation influences survival in glioblastoma. J Neurooncol. 2010 Dec;100(3):339-43. PubMed: 20455003
• Guentchev M, McKay RD. Notch controls proliferation and differentiation of stem cells in a dose-dependent manner. Eur J Neurosci. 2006 May;23(9):2289-96. PubMed: 16706837
• Kovacs GG, Gasque P, Ströbel T, Lindeck-Pozza E, Strohschneider M, Ironside JW, Budka H, Guentchev M. Complement activation in human prion disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2004 Feb;15(1):21-8. PubMed: 14751767
• Guentchev M, Siedlak SL, Jarius C, Tagliavini F, Castellani RJ, Perry G, Smith MA, Budka H. Oxidative damage to nucleic acids in human prion disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2002 Apr;9(3):275-81. PubMed: 11950273
• Wanschitz J, Klöppel S, Jarius C, Birner P, Flicker H, Hainfellner JA, Gambetti P, Guentchev M, Budka H. Alteration of the serotonergic nervous system in fatal familial insomnia. Ann Neurol. 2000 Nov;48(5):788-91. PubMed: 11079543
• Guentchev M, Voigtländer T, Haberler C, Groschup MH, Budka H. Evidence for oxidative stress in experimental prion disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2000 Aug;7(4):270-3. PubMed: 10964599
• Guentchev M, Wanschitz J, Voigtländer T, Flicker H, Budka H. Selective neuronal vulnerability in human prion diseases. Fatal familial insomnia differs from other types of prion diseases. Am J Pathol. 1999 Nov;155(5):1453-7. PubMed: 10550300
• Guentchev M, Groschup MH, Kordek R, Liberski PP, Budka H. Severe, early and selective loss of a subpopulation of GABAergic inhibitory neurons in experimental transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Brain Pathol. 1998 Oct;8(4):615-23. PubMed: 9804371
• Guentchev M, Hainfellner JA, Trabattoni GR, Budka H. Distribution of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in brain correlates with hippocampal and temporal cortical pathology in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1997 Oct;56(10):1119-24. PubMed: 9329455