Forty years of the Ljubljana Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology and 50 years of clinical neurophysiology in Slovenia

Abstract

The start of the first electroencephylograph in the Ljubljana University Hospital of Paediatrics in 1949 marks the beginning of clinical neurophysiology in Slovenia. As a medical branch it gained recognition with the establishment of a laboratory for clinical neurophysiology at the University Hospital of Orthopaedics in 1959. The lab was later moved to the University Hospital of Neurology, while on 17 October 1969 it became an independent department as the Ljubljana Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology (ICN). Year 2009 hence marked the 50th and 40th anniversary of clinical neurophysiology in Slovenia and the ICN, respectively. By detecting, amplifying, registering and measuring spontaneous or evoked electrical activity of muscles and nerves, clinical electrophysiology can diagnose diseases, follow-up treatment, monitor functioning of the nervous or muscular systems, as well as reveal mechanisms of their functioning. Its traditional methods are electroencephalography, electromyography, and evoked potentials. Since recently – and for the time being predominantly for research purposes– they have been used simultaneously with imaging techniques. Combined temporal and spatial data provide new insight into the normal and abnormal function of the nervous system. Beside the routine work with out-patients and several hospitalised patients, lively research and educational activities are underway at the ICN. In the article they are presented together with numerical data.