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With the growth of combined clinical neurophysiology fellowship training programs and their
corresponding “pan-physiology” board examinations, there has been an increased need for
educational materials that span the range of clinical neurophysiology topics. The Clinical
Neurophysiology Primer aims to meet this need by providing a broad and intentionally basic treatment
of the most central topics within clinical neurophysiology.
The Clinical Neurophysiology Primer initially took shape within the clinical neurophysiology
sections at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Rhode Island Hospital, as an outgrowth of their
fellowships’ didactic lecture series. Faculty and trainees at these and affiliated teaching hospitals
participate in a series of lectures over the course of the academic year designed to acquaint trainees
with the elements of clinical neurophysiology, supplementing their clinical experiences. We hope that this
primer will prove valuable to others as a companion book intended for clinical neurophysiology fellows
and neurology residents, to be used in conjunction with such a program of lectures.
The Clinical Neurophysiology Primer is divided into four parts. The first addresses background
topics integral to, and shared by, all the disciplines within clinical neurophysiology. These treat such
topics as basic electronics and the neural basis for the central and peripheral electrical potentials that
we study in the laboratory. Part II addresses the most central topics pertinent to the application and
analysis of electroencephalography. Part III tackles similar key topics pivotal to understanding
neuromuscular disease pathophysiology and correlates found with nerve conduction studies and
electromyography. The last part covers topics in related fields of clinical neurophysiology: autonomic
testing, evoked potentials, sleep studies, and their applications. The primer is multiauthored. Many of
the contributing authors are faculty, or were trainees, at our fellowship programs. Inevitably other
contributors also joined the effort. Each chapter has appended references or bibliographies that
provide the reader with additional sources of information to expand upon the introductory materials
covered here. Chapter lengths also vary considerably in size, in part related to the breadth of the
material incorporated. Finally, each chapter ends with a set of questions and answers to aid trainees in
gauging their mastery of the materials.
We hope this primer will fulfill its intended role as a starting point for fellows engaged in clinical
neurophysiology training, for those pursuing more focused training in areas within clinical
neurophysiology, and for neurology residents aiming to acquire a basic understanding of these
disciplines. |
