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Spinal cord monitoring
Author(s) -
Nuwer Marc R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4598(199912)22:12<1620::aid-mus2>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - medicine , spinal cord , somatosensory evoked potential , paraplegia , orthopedic surgery , surgery , anesthesia , psychiatry
Over the past two decades, intraoperative spinal cord monitoring has matured into a widely used clinical tool. It is used when the spinal cord is at risk for damage during a surgical procedure. This includes orthopedic, neurosurgical, and certain cardiothoracic procedures. Both somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and direct motor pathway stimulation techniques are available. The SEP techniques are used most widely, are generally accepted, and have been shown to reduce surgical morbidity. A large multicenter study has shown that SEP monitoring reduces postoperative paraplegia by more than 50–60%. Techniques and literature on clinical applications are reviewed in this report. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Muscle Nerve 22: 1620–1630, 1999