Neuromuscular Fellowship
The Neuromuscular Fellowship Program is an ACGME-certified program in Neuromuscular Medicine. Our training program was one of the first to receive this subspecialty certification. The one-year program consists of clinical training in neuromuscular diseases and performance of electromyography (EMG) and related techniques.
Clinical Training
The neuromuscular fellows spend their mornings in the Neuromuscular Clinic at the Aston Center. Our patients are referred to UT Southwestern from all over the North Texas region. We see a wide variety of neuromuscular diseases such as myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, peripheral neuropathy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Three clinics a week are sponsored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In the afternoon, the neuromuscular fellows work in the EMG laboratory at Aston Center. Patients in the EMG lab are referred both from the neuromuscular clinics and from other services such as orthopedics, otorhinolaryngology, medicine, and neurosurgery.
Fellows also have the opportunity to learn and perform quantitative clinical autonomic function studies. All clinical activities are performed under the direct supervision of the neuromuscular faculty.
Conferences
Fellows are instructed on the interpretation of nerve and muscle biopsies at the Neuromuscular Service Biopsy Conference on Thursday evenings. Other conferences include the monthly Neuromuscular Journal Club, the weekly Neuromuscular and Neurophysiology didactic lecture series, weekly multidisciplinary ALS conference, and EMG Review conference every Friday morning at which time all interesting EMG studies from the previous week are reviewed. At the end of one year of training, the neuromuscular fellows will be competent in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neuromuscular disease, the performance and interpretation of EMGs, and basic reading of muscle and nerve biopsies.
The Neuromuscular section also organizes the annual Carrell-Krusen Neuromuscular Symposium, a nationally-recognized scientific conference on neuromuscular disorders held in Dallas.