Clinical Neurophysiology

Clinical neurophysiology is a diagnostic medical specialty which provides information about the function of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, neuro-muscular junction, muscles, eyes/vision and ears/hearing. The finding of a neurophysiological evaluation in conjunction with an appropriate clinical history and clinical examination of a patient would provide what can be called an electro clinical diagnosis. The electro clinical diagnosis will either provide the definitive diagnosis or narrow the range of probabilities and guide one in the direction of the appropriate line of further investigation. The conditions, whereby the electro clinical diagnosis is a component of the total multi-faceted picture are in general more complex multidisciplinary managed conditions. Therefore, in these cases, the decision for referring to a neurophysiologist is best and most cost effectively left to specialists in hospital practice. The diseases or the medical conditions, whereby the electro clinical features provides the definite diagnosis or the definite answer to the medical question are ones that the generalists benefit most from by referring directly to a Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist for assessment and diagnostic opinion.

The following are the commonest conditions referred to us by general practitioners have been dealt with to the patient’s best advantage and to the general practitioners’ satisfaction. Accurate and timely interpretations and differential diagnosis of abnormality in the following conditions can reduce the need for more extensive and unnecessary evaluation for the rest of the nervous system and hence can be cost effective.

The Division of Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Neurosciences is based at the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire. The department has the facilities to provide wide range of Neurophysiological investigations and is a major training center in this speciality for doctors ( both undergraduates and postgraduates ) and clinical physiologists.