Department of Neurology

Autonomic Laboratory

The Autonomic Laboratory evaluates patients with disorders affecting the autonomic nervous system. These disorders include multiple system atrophy, pure autonomic failure, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, hypotension, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), fainting, abnormalities of sweating, bladder and sexual dysfunction.

The laboratory is located in the fifth floor of the Bolwell Health Center at University Hospitals - Case Medical Center. Satellite laboratories are located at the Westlake Health Center and the Chagrin Highlands Health Center. All testing is non-invasive and includes tilt table, quantitative sudomotor reflex testing (QSART), whole body sweat testing and laser Doppler flowmetry.  Studies are supervised and interpreted by Drs. Bashar Katirji, Daniel Koontz and Mark Buczek.
 

EEG Laboratory

EEG (Electroencephalography) is performed for outpatients in the EEG suite located on the third floor of the Lakeside building at University Hospitals - Case Medical Center.

Over 3000 studies are done annually on outpatients. In addition, the laboratory also does an large number of portable studies on patients hospitalized on the wards and intensive care units. There are seven staff neurologists between the Department of Neurology and the Division of Pediatric Neurology that interpret EEGs.

Video-EEG Monitoring Unit

Both adult and pediatric studies are performed in their respective Video-EEG Monitoring Units. These are inpatient units where patients undergo continuous monitoring as long as needed.

This unit is most helpful in determining if a patient's intermittent symptoms are due to seizures or not. Monitoring is also frequently used to assess the efficacy of anticonvulsant medicines and in the pre-surgical evaluation of patients before possible epilepsy surgery.

The Pediatric Video-EEG Monitoring Unit is located on the seventh floor of Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, and the adult unit is located on the fourth floor of the Lakeside building.

Electromyography Laboratory

Nerve conduction studies and electromyography (EMG) are available for the diagnosis of most peripheral nerve and muscle disorders. The EMG laboratory evaluates over 2000 patients per year at five locations, including the 5th floor of the Bolwell Health Center, at Case Medical Center, the University Suburban Health Center, the Chagrin Highlands Health Center, the Westlake Health Center, the Richmond Medical Center, and the Bedford Medical Center.

The labs are staffed by five full time technicians along with seven Neurology staff physicians, Drs. Bashar Katirji, David Preston, Barbara Shapiro, Gerald Grossman, Daniel Miller, Marek Buczek, and Daniel Koontz. Services available include nerve conduction studies, needle electromyography, single-fiber EMG, ischemic forearm blood testing and EMG guided Botox. The EMG laboratory is extremely user friendly with the ability to schedule patients easily at multiple sites, without significant waiting, with the report usually available the same day. Important information for patients about electromyography testing is available here.