Synapse User Manual (295-027, Rev J)

Begin the Scan

Beginning a scan involves picking your scan settings and starting the scan. Follow these steps to begin your electromyographic scan:

  • Set the width between the two sensors as appropriate for the patient. You will find two knobs underneath the sensors that you can twist to loosen them, at which point you can adjust them as needed. The sensors should be approximately ½” -¾” on either side of the patient’s spine. Don’t forget to tighten the set screws before conducting the scan.
  • Setup the configurations for your EMG scan. There are two ways to do this.
    • You can either click on “Start an Exam” from the home page,
    • Or you can click “New Exam” on the bottom taskbar.
  • Next, select the patient you want to scan, or you can add a new patient if the one you are looking for is not listed.
  • From the list that appears, click on the “neuroCORE” icon. If you don’t see your equipment listed, be sure it is connected and paired.
  • From here, you’ll configure your scan setup (Fig. 1):
    • Patient: Confirm you are scanning the correct patient, if not, you may change him/her here.
    • Scan Purpose: Select what type of exam you will be performing.
    • Protocol: Choose which protocol is best for the patient. Ideally there will be customized protocols especially for infants, cervical spines, the sacral region and other combinations that you can build out in the Scan Protocols section.
    • Position: Choose if the scan is being conducted in the standing or seated position.
    • Sounds: You can choose to have a male voice, female voice, or none as your guiding prompts.
Fig. 1

After the settings are confirmed, click “Continue” to connect the instrument (Fig. 2). Prompts will guide you to ensure that the neuroCORE is powered on by holding down the trigger. You will see the blue bar run back and forth on the instrument’s screen. Click “Connect to neuroCORE”.
Fig. 2

At this point, you can click “Begin Scan” and you will be taken to the scan screen from which you will conduct the scan itself.