Professionals within the neurodiagnostic field are realizing that our brains’ electrical fields can help us understand various diseases in ways we never have — it has the  industry on the cusp of major transformation. The brain changes before patients or doctors begin to see clinical symptoms, says Dr. William Bosl, professor of Health Informatics and Data Science at the University of San Francisco, affiliate faculty member at Boston Children’s Hospital and lecturer at Harvard Medical School. “That opens up a window of opportunity for monitoring brain function over time to detect changes ..read more

During her final ASET Annual Conference as president of ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society, Connie Kubiak reflected on her term leading the organization. The outgoing president talked about her accomplishments as ASET president, offered some predictions for the industry’s future, and shared advice for her successor and neurodiagnostic technologists. One thing she looks back on with pride is collaboration — with sister organizations, with physician organizations, and other groups. “We all have a common goal and a lot of things cross over, so let’s just all work together,” Kubiak said. Handling ..read more

Kevin Helm’s first year and a half with ASET was interesting — to say the least. Helm was announced as the new executive director of ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society in April 2020 and was immediately thrust into the role of leading it through unprecedented challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The organization I just spent five years with prior to this was 100 percent virtual, so I built a good skill set,” Helm told Neurology Insights at the ASET 62nd Annual Conference in San Diego. “The biggest challenge was with culture. We already had a split staff to begin with. We had 10 employ ..read more

The technicians who perform intraoperative neuromonitoring are not there to diagnose an issue that occurs during surgery, but they must be quick at recognizing one that emerges. What makes this difficult is how infrequently they occur — technicians can monitor hundreds of consecutive operations without witnessing something go wrong. “I think that’s a major issue because, thankfully, it’s not very often that these major complications happen. But when they do, it’s so important for the technologist to be prepared and proactive and make quick, snap decisions,” said Chris Halford, program directo ..read more

The efficacy and cost effectiveness of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) can be difficult to determine. The perceived usefulness of IONM, according to Christopher Halford, the END (electroneurodiagnostic) program director at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, is often based on benefit or cost. Surgeons may not see a practice that frequently detects no complications at all as necessary for routine procedures. Halford, however, can cite an example of when IONM recognized a problem that may have resulted in paralysis. For that patient, retaining the ability to walk was “price ..read more

Putting people with advanced Parkinson’s disease on device-aided therapies can, during the best of times, involve some tricky cost-benefit analysis. The COVID-19 pandemic has made that equation even more complicated. According to a new study published in the journal Neurological Sciences, patients using these devices are experiencing significantly increased levels of anxiety and depression, and so are their caregivers. That’s thanks to decreased access to care and worry about the virus. “These findings are important for neurologists and healthcare services to foster strategies for the managem ..read more

In 1924, the study of brain disease took a giant leap forward when Hans Berger recorded the first human electroencephalograms (EEG). We are now on the cusp of another innovation with “the potential to revolutionize how we study and care for the brain.” That’s according to the authors of a new review on the state of wearable technology that integrates EEG with blood flow imaging, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The latter is similar to positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) — which are also sometimes paired with EEG — in its non ..read more

Neurodiagnostic technologists play a “fundamental role” in the care of premature newborns, according to a new paper published in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology. Premature birth itself is considered a neurological risk factor and requires close monitoring. This often includes electroencephalography (EEG) in neonates, especially those below 28 weeks gestational age and up to 33 weeks when other risk factors are present. “EEG is an essential tool for assessing brain function during the neonatal period,” write the authors, and “the procedures for recording and interpreting EEGs require well ..read more

Botulinum toxin type A injection is well established as the standard of care for cervical dystonia, but there is little evidence to recommend optimal treatment intervals or dosing, according to a 2020 Cochrane review. We spoke with neurologist Dr. Laxman Bahroo, director of the Botulinum Toxin Clinic at Georgetown University Hospital, to learn how he works around this lack of evidence to make the best clinical decisions for his patients. This is the second part of a two-part conversation with Dr. Bahroo. You can read the first part here to learn how to target the right muscles and which guida ..read more

According to a 2020 Cochrane review, botulinum toxin type A injection is the “first-line therapy” for cervical dystonia, a painful movement disorder of the neck. Unfortunately, there is still little evidence to direct clinicians toward the best ways to target muscles and guide these injections. We spoke with neurologist Dr. Laxman Bahroo, director of the Botulinum Toxin Clinic at Georgetown University Hospital, to help us fill in the blanks. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. NI: What does cervical dystonia typically look like in terms of muscle imbalance? Dr. Bahroo: The pat ..read more