Neurological Services
Each year, hundreds of neurological patients are seen at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center. Many of these patients have been diagnosed with myesthenia gravis, cerebrovascular accident, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cancer, or other trauma or disease that affects the nervous system.
Neurological services began at St. Luke's in 1975, when brain and spinal surgeries were first performed. Along with surgical procedures, neurological services now include specialized medical imaging and patient care services, sleep disorders evaluation, and neurodiagnostics. Physicians on St. Luke's medical staff, working with the specially trained staff and technologically advanced facilities at St. Luke's, provide the skills and expertise necessary to deliver the highest quality care to our patients.
In keeping with our mission to provide state-of-the-art neurological care to the people of our region, our neurological services include the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of patients who have:
- Cancers of the brain and nervous system
- Infections of the brain and nervous system
- Degenerative diseases of the nervous system, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
- Immunological diseases of the nervous system, including multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis
- Vascular diseases of the nervous system including stroke, aneurysms, vascular malformations, and hemorrhages
- Seizures and epilepsy
- Spinal cord disease
- Diseases of nerves and muscle
- Congenital neurological diseases
- Headache
Neurological services at St. Luke's are provided through:
- St. Luke's Clinic – Neurology
- Emergency Department
- Medical Imaging
- Neurodiagnostic Testing and Monitoring
- Intraoperative Neurodiagnostic Monitoring
- Patient Care Services
- Sleep Center
- Operating Room
- Pediatric Neurology, neurosurgery, and neuropsychology
Neurodiagnostic Testing and Monitoring
Neurodiagnostics is the study of electrical activity in
the brain and nervous system. Neurodiagnostics includes:
Electroencephalography (EEG): A painless test that records the electrical activity of the brain. EEGs aid in the diagnosis of a variety of neurological problems, from common headaches and dizziness to seizure disorders such as epilepsy, strokes, and degenerative brain disease. The EEG is also used to look for organic causes of psychiatric symptoms and disabilities in children, and can assist physicians in determining irreversible brain death.
Neonatal Auditory Brainstem Evoked Potential Screening: This screening is performed on all high risk and premature (under 32 weeks) infants to to assess dysfunctions of the auditory pathways within the auditory nerve and brainstem at both high and low frequency settings.
Evoked Potential (EP): The EP is a recording of electrical activity from the brain, spinal nerves, or sensory receptors in response to specific external stimulation. Electrodes are applied to the scalp and other areas of the body and a series of stimuli is introduced. Hundreds to thousands of responses are received, amplified, and averaged by a computer. Evoked potentials are helpful in evaluating a number of different neurological problems, including multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, acoustic neuroma, and optic neuritis. Each type of EP looks at a different neurological pathway: auditory, visual and somatosensory.
For more information on Neurodiagnostic Testing and Monitoring, call (208) 381-2058.
