Monitoring Spinal Cord During Surgery May Prevent Paralysis

The American Academy of Neurology has issued an updated guideline, which details evidence showing that monitoring the spinal cord during spinal surgery and certain chest surgeries, sometimes referred to as intraoperative monitoring, can help prevent paralysis that can be related to the surgery, according to a news release by the Academy.

Advertisement

Intraoperative monitoring of the spinal cord involves monitoring of somatosensory evoked potentials and motor evoked potentials. The guideline found that in all cases where paralysis occurred, the patients had changes in their evoked potentials during the surgery, while there were no cases of paralysis in patients without any changes in their evoked potentials.

The guideline was developed with the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and is published in the February issue of Neurology.

Related Articles on Spinal Surgery:

Depositing Vancomycin May Reduce Infection Rates After Spinal Surgery

Remote Controlled Limb Lengthening Device Receives FDA Clearance

Cornell Researchers Develop Chamber Implant for Spinal Cord Procedure

Advertisement

Next Up in Spine

Advertisement

Comments are closed.