About intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM)

The purpose of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) is to detect and reduce neuronal deficits during critical surgeries. The neurophysiologist uses monitoring techniques to assess a patient's nervous system function during these surgeries where the nervous system is at risk. If signal changes occur that are abnormal, the neurophysiologist performing IONM informs the surgeon and corrective actions are made to reduce nerve damage that otherwise may go unnoticed. IOM provides a safety margin for the patient by minimizing complications leading to better patient outcome and reduced short and long‑term medical costs.

IONM has been shown to reduce patient complications during complex surgeries. For example, Epstein et al. (1993) assessed the clinical usefulness of IONM during cervical spine decompression by comparing 218 patients that were not monitored with 100 patients that were. There was a 3.7% incidence of quadriplegia and a 0.5% incidence of death in the unmonitored patients, whereas there was no incidence of quadriplegia or death in the monitored group (Epstein et al., 1993, SPINE 18(6): 737‑74). Numerous studies have demonstrated that using IONM during surgery results in a significant reduction of patient complications, medical costs, and mortality. IONM is the standard of care for many surgical procedures.

IONM utilizes various techniques (listed below) to monitor the integrity of a patient's nervous system throughout the surgery. Some surgeries dictate that a multitude of these techniques be used simultaneously to ensure the safety for the patient as well as achieving the best possible outcome after surgery. At ADI, we strive to provide each patient with the safest and most effective monitoring achievable.

IONM Techniques





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