Glossary
Neurologist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential neurologist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key neurologist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in neurologist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Aura
- Warning symptoms before a migraine or seizure.
- Dementia
- Decline in memory and thinking.
- EEG
- Test of brain electrical activity.
- EMG
- Test of muscle and nerve function.
- Epilepsy
- Recurrent seizures.
- Lumbar puncture
- Spinal fluid test.
- Migraine
- A severe headache disorder.
- Multiple sclerosis
- Immune attack on nerve coverings.
- Neuropathy
- Nerve damage.
- NIH Stroke Scale
- A stroke severity score.
- Parkinson’s disease
- A movement disorder.
- Stroke
- Interrupted blood flow to the brain.
- Telestroke
- Remote stroke consults.
- Thrombectomy
- Removing a clot from an artery.
- tPA
- A clot-busting stroke medication.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Neurologist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Neurologist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.