ÁREA DE CONTENIDO
Tests
Electromyography
Electromyography tests used to be considered to be very uncomfortable for the patient, as it is necessary to use small electrical stimuli and sometimes to penetrate the skin with very fine needles. However, these day with specialists trained specifically to do this the test causes very little discomfort and is perfectly tolerable; it is even performed on small children, who complain very little about it.
We can therefore safely say that if any former patient says that it is a very painful test, they are talking about years ago and they are certainly not talking about Clínica Vistahermosa's Neurophysiology laboratory, where the test is performed in a quiet, relaxing, restful atmosphere.
Evoked Potentials
This technique is in turn divided into different types, depending on the structure of the nervous system to be studied.
In all the types of potentials we study the central nervous system and we attach sensor electrodes to different parts of the scalp and the body, equivalent to those used for an electrocardiogram, which are harmless and do not cause discomfort. This allows us to measure the brain's response to different auditory, visual or sensory stimuli.
- Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEP):
These enable us to study the state of the part of the brain that is related to hearing. They are used in many types of disease, some of the magnitude of multiple sclerosis and others as simple as deafness.
This study is often performed on children to assess their hearing, as it helps us to find out how well they can hear and therefore whether or not their language delay is caused by hearing impairment. It is a painless technique for which the patient lies on a bed and listens to different types of sound stimuli through headphones.
- Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP):
These enable us to assess many types of vision disorders, whether they originate from the brain, the individual's eye or the optical nerve that links the two.
Like the auditory potentials test, this painless technique is performed by stimulating the subject with geometric images that are generated on a television screen.
This technique is different but complementary to the previous one and allows us to study the retina. It is used to diagnose diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa or simply to assess the state of the retina prior to cataract operations.
- Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSEP):
These are used in cases where it is necessary to study the function of the spinal cord. They can also be used to study cases of multiple sclerosis or spinal cord compression caused by cervical or dorsal disc herniation.
Electroencephalogram
This technique, which is known by most users due to its age, enables us to study the activity of the outermost part of the brain, called the cerebral cortex.
Its most important and most common application is to study all types of epileptic diseases, but it is also used to diagnose vascular problems and, in some cases, alterations in higher brain functions, such as all types of dementia.
It is also a painless technique and it consists of placing a cap on the patient's head, which is equipped with electrodes that transmit the signal from the cerebral cortex to the recording equipment.