Spine-Tek Neuromonitoring Information

Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring (IONM) has been around for many years. Just as surgical procedures have become technologically advanced, so has IONM. IONM is now considered the standard of care during neurological spinal procedures. Not only does IONM demonstrate reliability and validity during correction of deformities, but patients can now benefit with the use of IONM during complex surgeries, far beyond scoliosis. Spinal cord function can be monitored by various techniques. Sensory Evoked Potentials (SEP's), Motor Evoked Potentials (MEP's), Electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalography (EEG) are all types of monitoring techniques used either alone or in a multimodality setting. IONM promotes early warning of neural function should it become impaired or injured, allowing the surgeon to initiate immediate intervention. IONM can be helpful in identifying distorted anatomy from tumors, lesions, degenerative disease, etc. It can also be useful during intubation and positioning of patients with spinal instability. Another benefit of IONM is the ability to assess the depth of anesthesia as well as determining whether the patient has systemic complications such as hypotension, hypoxia, or hypocarbia. The availability of IONM assures that all necessary precautions are being taken to prevent post-operative neurologic compromise. The performance of IONM will minimize the surgical risk to the patient and reduce the complication rate in a complex surgery. Remember, IONM is justified whenever there is potential for intraoperative neurological deficit.