Neuroradiology

The Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University provides state-of-the-art imaging capabilities to our Medical Center. A staff of eight neuroradiologists with ten fellows provide around-the-clock support to the neurology service. Outstanding facilities for MRI, CT, angiography, radionuclide imaging and positron emission tomography (PET) and interventional radiology are available. Residents receive formal lectures from the neuroradiology division. Neuroradiology staff members participate in Grand Rounds on a regular basis, and residents frequently spend elective time on the neuroradiology service.

EEG/Sleep/Evoked Potentials

The Department of Neurology interprets EEG, evoked potential and sleep studies for all the teaching hospitals, performing about 6,000 studies each year. Services include the routine studies as well as intensive epilepsy monitoring and intraoperative recording. Facilities are exceptional, with a six bed epilepsy recording unit with all new equipment installed on 11400 of BJH in 2000 and a new 12 bed sleep center opened at the nearby Chase Park Plaza Hotel in 2001. A general theoretical introduction to EEG is provided during the Clinical Neuroscience Lecture Series. An elective in EEG/evoked potentials provides training in the performance and interpretation of conventional EEG, ambulatory and CCTV/EEG, long term monitoring, electrocorticography, evoked potentials and polysomnography. Residents selecting EEG/evoked potentials as an elective also gain experience in the management of patients with intractable epilepsy or sleep disorders.

Neuromuscular/EMG

Electromyography services for all the teaching hospitals is provided by the Department of Neurology. More than 2,000 studies are performed each year. Residents receive introductory lectures on EMG and nerve conduction studies during the clinical neuroscience lecture series. Training in EMG is integrated with the neuromuscular rotation. Residents participate in physician-directed electrodiagnostic studies in the EMG laboratory and attend weekly EMG conferences. Further practical experience in the laboratory is available during electives in EMG. During the neuromuscular rotation, the resident also participates in the neuromuscular clinic, which has about 2,000 outpatient visits a year, and in the neuromuscular inpatient consult service. Regular conferences are devoted to diagnostics and clinical management rehabilitation, basic mechanisms of neuromuscular disease and nerve and muscle pathology.

Neuropathology

The Division of Neuropathology in the Department of Pathology consists of four neuropathologists who provide a two-month introduction to neuropathology five times a year. Facilities for self study with microscopic, gross material and tutorial help are available all year. The Division of Neuropathology also organizes a weekly multidisciplinary brain-cutting conference where histories, radiographic studies, and gross anatomic details of pathologic cases from any of the Washington University Medical Center hospitals are discussed. This conference is followed by a teaching session examining microscopic sections from the same cases.

Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurology at Washington University has long had a close working relationship with the Department of Neurological Surgery, headed by Dr. Ralph Dacey. The Barnes-Jewish Neurology-Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit is a shared facility serving both neurosurgery and neurology patients under the direction of a critical care neurologist, Dr. Michael Diringer. Neurology and Neurosurgery share in the weekly Grand Rounds providing an open forum for interactions between the two groups concerning specific clinical issues. Neurosurgical support for the St. Louis ConnectCare, for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and for St. Louis Children's Hospital is provided by the Washington University Neurosurgical Program. Although Neurology and Neurological Surgery are fundamentally independent departments, they retain a formal combined designation as the "Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery" within the medical school. This formal title recognizes the history, mission and continuing tradition of close collaboration shared by the two disciplines at Washington University.