Paediatric clinical neurophysiology

We have a dedicated paediatric clinical neurophysiology service at our children’s hospital based in St Helier Hospital – Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children.

Clinical neurophysiology is a branch of medicine concerned with diagnosis and monitoring of disease by measurement of the electrical activity of the brain, the spinal cord, nerves and muscles.

Our caring team does not sedate any children, but uses play and distraction to perform the following:

Routine electroencephalography (EEGs)
Sleep deprived EEGs
24 hour ambulatory EEGs
Visual evoked response (VER)
Electroretinogram (ERGs)
Electromyography and nerve conduction studies (EMG/NCS).

An EEG takes approximately 45 minutes to perform and involves the child sitting relatively still for that amount of time. About 40% of our patients are under five and we also regularly see children with learning difficulties and autism.