Cutting-edge neuro equipment

Ageing neurophysiology equipment will be upgraded to cutting-edge pieces to provide the highest standard of care to patients.

The health outcomes for children with disorders of the brain, nerves and muscles will be improved thanks to equipment The Royal Children’s Hospital Neurophysiology Department is able to purchase with Good Friday Appeal funds.

A dedicated Neurophysiology Service sits within the department, with a focus on the study of nerve cells (neurones) as they receive and transmit information in the brain, spine, and muscles, and uses advanced technology to do so.

Through support from the Good Friday Appeal and 3AW, vital, ageing neurophysiology equipment will be replaced with enhanced, state-of-the-art pieces to provide the highest standard of care to patients with neurological disorders.

There are three large groups of equipment that looks at how the brain functions being funded by the 2022 Good Friday Appeal.

Ageing EEG equipment, which is brain wave recording equipment, used around the hospital, in the outpatient area, on the wards and in operating theatres, as well as in homes, will be upgraded
New monitoring equipment that will neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons will use in the operating theatre to operate on the back and spine more safely
The department will also purchase a unique, cutting edge piece equipment that will allow them to do EEG recordings inside and MRI scanner which previously you couldn’t as metals and wires in MRI scanners.

Dr Simon Harvey, Consultant Neurologist and Director of the Children’s Epilepsy Program, said brain disorders, including epilepsy, were very common and could be quite disabling for some children.

“We’ll be able to work better and hopefully treat more children, more efficiently and more safely, and get better outcomes. We’ll be able to operate on more children who have scoliosis, so spinal curvature surgery, epilepsy surgery, and so forth, and do this in a more comfortable way and efficient way,” Dr Harvey said.

“The funds raised from the Good Friday Appeal allow us to go further and provide a really high level of care, introduce new services, introduce cutting edge equipment and staff to do research.”

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