84575 - Neuropathophysiology 1-

Learning outcomes

The student has knowledge and skills to understand the fundamentals of clinical neurophysiology.

Course contents

Neurophysiological basis of EEG.

EEG recording, dipole theory, the 10-20 system, monopolar and bipolar montage, common reference.

Neurophysiological basis of evoked potentials: somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) and somatosensory pathways, visual evoked potentials (VEP) and the visual pathway, brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) and the auditory pathway.

EMG and physiopathology of the peripheral nervous system.

Example clinical cases.

Readings/Bibliography

Clinical Electroencephalography by Oriano Mecarelli published in  2019 Springer Nature Switzerland;  ISBN 978-3-030-04572-2 ISBN 978-3-030-04573-9 (eBook); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04573-9

Teaching methods

Interactive lectures where general rules are derived from practical examples taken from everyday experience. Teaching materials and slides are made available to the students via the moodle platform at least the day before the lesson. During the lessons, it is important for students to have direct access (online or off-line) to the teaching materials in order to be able to concentrate on specific contents rather than on reproducing slides.

Attending lessons plays an important role in the learning process. During lessons, the teacher guides the students in the critical reading of the teaching materials and provides opportunities for online formative assessment.

La final summative assessment takes also into account the level of critical thinking achieved by the student while illustrating the extracted topic (see below).

Attendance to learning activities is mandatory; the minimum attendance requirement to be admitted to the final exam is 60% of lessons. For Integrated Courses (IC), the 60% attendance requirement refers to the total amount of I.C. lessons. Students who fail to meet the minimum attendance requirement will not be admitted to the final exam of the course and will have to attend relevant classes again during the next academic year.

Professors may authorise excused absences upon receipt of proper justifying documentation, in case of illness or serious reasons. Excused absences do not count against a student’s attendance record to determine their minimum attendance requirement.

Assessment methods

Oral exam.

The date of the oral exam will be discussed with the students on the first lesson.

The exam will be held at Bellaria Hospital, building G, first floor.

Students will be asked two questions: one on theoretical knowledge and one involving the identification of unusual EEG patterns of the main waves (SSEP, VEP, BAEP).

The final exam assesses the achievement of the learning outcomes:

- knowledge of anatomical and neurophysiological bases of EEG, evoked potentials, and normal and aberrant EMG;

- good understanding of the basics of clinical neurophysiology.

The final grade of this course will be the mean mark received for the two/three questions. This grade will be integrated with those received in the other two parts of the integrated course to generate the final grade.

Teaching tools

Video recordings of clinical cases.

Both normal and aberrant EEG tracings, evoked potentials and EMG recordings.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Bisulli