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 second floor of the Bolwell Health Center at University Hopsitals - Case Medical Center. A second satellite laboratory is located at the Westlake Medical 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. Thomas Chelimsky, Bashar Katirji and Amer Alshekhlee.
 

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. Adult studies are supervised and read by Drs. Hans Lüders, Mary Ann Werz, Michael Devereaux, and Mohamad Koubeissi.

Video-EEG Monitoring Unit

Both adult and pediatric studies are performed in the Video-EEG Monitoring Unit. This is an inpatient unit 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 Video-EEG Monitoring Unit is located on the seventh floor of Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. Adult studies are supervised and read by Dr. Hans Lüders, Dr. Mary Ann Werz, and Dr. Mohamad Koubeissi.

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 Bolwell Health Center, suite 2700, at Case Medical Center, the University Suburban Health Center, the Chagrin Highlands Medical Center, the Westlake Medical Center, the Richmond Heights Hospital, and the Bedford Medical Center.

The labs are staffed by five full time technicians along with eight Neurology staff physicians, Drs. Bashar Katirji, David Preston, Barbara Shapiro, Gerald Grossman, Thomas Chelimsky, Amer Alshekhlee, 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.