Tatsuya Oishi, MD, Receives AANEM's 2024 Scientific Impact Award
Published July 30, 2024
Tatsuya Oishi, MD, is recognized for his outstanding scientific contributions to the NM and EDX community with the 2024 AANEM Scientific Impact Award for his work as the senior author of “Short-Acting Neuromuscular Blockade Improves Inter-rater Reliability of Median Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Postcardiac Arrest Prognostication.” This award honors midcareer AANEM members who serve as first, second, or last (senior) authors in pertinent topics in a published national or international peer reviewed index journal within the last 3 years.
Dr. Oishi completed his neurology residency at Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, in Rochester, Minnesota. He then completed an electromyography/clinical neurophysiology (CNP) fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He says he came upon EDX naturally, “EDX medicine felt deeply familiar and satisfying because it combines my interest in electronics, neuroanatomy, and the puzzle-like challenge of localization in a complex circuitry.”
He is now assistant professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic with a special interest in CNP. He is also an instructor for the CNP technologist training program at Mayo Clinic, where he says he gives extra recognition to the CNP technologists for their efforts in delivering quality patient care. His clinical activity and research interests include intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM) during neurological surgery and orthopedic spine surgery; EMG in NM disorders; and evoked potential interpretation in the diagnosis of neurological disorders.
In September 2022, his team’s research was published. “Short-Acting Neuromuscular Blockade Improves Interrater Reliability of Median Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Postcardiac Arrest Prognostication” evaluates the effect of using NM blocking agents before performing SEPs in patients referred for these studies to assist with prognostication following cardiac arrest and compares interrater reliability of interpretation of cortical SEP responses with and without NM blockade. In this study, the use of NM blockers significantly improved the interrater reliability of interpretation of cortical SEP responses in the setting of postcardiac arrest brain death evaluation.
Dr. Oishi says he enjoyed writing computer programs from scratch and this study’s data collection and analysis aspects. “The study is an extreme example of how the quality of a neurophysiologic study could sway the interpretation and impact the patient’s outcome. From this perspective, the paper has been thought-provoking throughout analysis and manuscript preparation,” he says.
As a member of AANEM since 2020, he says he is incredibly honored to receive the award and is grateful for the recognition from the AANEM Board of Directors. “Personally, it is a moment of reflection for me to appreciate all of my mentors, senior colleagues, and peers who have guided me toward advancing my career,” he says.