By Dr. Khalifa Ababacar Mbaye
Dr. Khalifa Ababacar Mbaye.
I am pleased to report on my training experience at the WFN Training Center in the Clinical Neurophysiology Department at the Hôpital des Spécialités, in Rabat, Morocco. The training was sponsored by the World Federation of Neurology (WFN).
I started my internship in a well-organized department with a regular schedule in which I alternated electroneuromyography (ENMG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) practice from Monday to Friday. I did ENMG four times a week, with a minimum of four patients per day. This was under the supervision of professors and assistant professors who defined the protocols and validated the techniques and results.
I’ve had the good fortune to excel in a number of neuromuscular pathologies, following patients from the diagnostic phase through to treatment and clinical evolution. I was regularly scheduled to do neuromuscular consultations with Prof. Nazha Birouk. These consultations were sometimes coupled with ENMG.
This internship has enabled me to learn ENMG techniques and the different protocols involved. It has also allowed me to learn scientific reasoning, the clinical and electrophysiological differences between neuromuscular pathologies, and the tools needed for diagnostic confirmation and management.
Once a week, I was scheduled to do standard, extended, or video EEG under the supervision of assistant professors and with staff the following day. Every Wednesday, we had video EEG staff training. This training enabled me to master epileptic semiology, epileptic syndromes, International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classifications, and various therapeutic modalities. These included anti-epileptic drugs, ketogenic diet, vagal stimulation, and epilepsy surgery.
Being in a university hospital with other trainees, we attended neurophysiology and general neurology staffing every 15 days. We also attended courses on neuromuscular pathologies and clinical case presentations organized by the Moroccan ENMG Club with seminars and workshops. I was fortunate to take part in numerous scientific meetings on neuromuscular pathologies and neuroscience in general. These included:
- Myology Day in Rabat, Morocco.
- Spring Neurology Days, May 9-11, 2024, in Fez, Morocco. The main theme was “At the Frontiers of Neurology and Psychiatry.” This included workshops related to topics in neurophysiology, such as traumatic neuropathies, ENMG reasoning, and the burden of epilepsy.
- ENMG workshops, Oct. 26, 2024, with topics including the brachial plexus, the drooping hand, the neuromuscular junction, and ENMG detection techniques.
- Autumn Neurology Days, Nov. 28-30, 2024, in Rabat, focused on ambulatory neurology. I took part in workshops related to clinical neurophysiology, polyneuropathies, carpal tunnel syndrome, and recognizing physiological sleep patterns in EEG.
During the Autumn Neurology Days, I gave two poster presentations. The topics were:
- The benefits of coupling electroretinograms to visual evoked potentials.
- Psychiatric disorders on levetiracetam: a real dilemma in a girl being evaluated for epilepsy surgery.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Mustapha El Alaoui Faris for his welcome, his guidance, and his advice. Thank you for integrating me into all of the neurological societies in Morocco right from the start. Through Prof. Faris, I received my full training grant on time.
To Prof. Birouk and her team, thank you for helping me to achieve my scientific goals. Thank you for accompanying me, boosting me, and making me feel like a neurophysiologist. •
Dr. Khalifa Ababacar Mbaye is a young neurologist from Dakar, Senegal.
