Enjoy this Valentine’s Day edition of Lessons From the Lab! Drs. Rubin and Levin work through a case with some twists and turns and a variety of teaching points – it’s just like not knowing what you are going to get when you open a box of Valentine’s Day chocolates!
9/10/2021- Dr. Elie Naddaf interviews Dr. Georgia Malandraki and Dr. Kendrea Garand on the approach to dysphagia, with focus on neuromuscular disorders. 40 minutes
3/25/2016- Dr. Stephen Goutman interviews Drs. Pushpa Narayanaswami and Seward Rutkove about their article Critically re-evaluating a common technique: Accuracy, reliability, and confirmation bias of EMG. This study supports that in evaluations of radiculopathy (1) serial EMG studies should be performed by the same electromyographer since intrarater reliability is better than interrater reliability; (2) knowledge of clinical information does not bias EMG interpretation substantially; (3) EMG has moderate diagnostic accuracy for radiculopathy with modest specificity and electromyographers should exercise caution interpreting mild abnormalities. Neurology. 2016 Jan 19;86(3):218-23. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002292. Epub 2015 Dec 23.
4/10/2014- Electromyographic (EMG) reporting of radiculopathies is not standardized, and the terminology used in reports can be misinterpreted by referring physicians. Physicians who refer patients for EMG studies at the Mayo Clinic were surveyed about their understanding of 6 different EMG interpretations of an S1 radiculopathy. Of 45 responders, the terms “acute, active,” “chronic, inactive,” and “old” were interpreted consistently by 95%, 98%, and 84% of responders, respectively. Physicians had the most difficulty understanding the meaning of “chronic” in isolation, “chronic, active,” or “old with uncompensated denervation.” These findings suggest a need to educate referring physicians on the meaning of the terms used in EMG reports and to develop standard guidelines for qualifying radiculopathies. Based on our observations, guidelines for the reporting of radiculopathies have been adopted in the Mayo Clinic Florida EMG laboratory. Muscle Nerve 49: 129–130, 2014