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Information for Patients
While standard
intraoperative monitoring gives your surgeon and anesthesiologist a good
picture of the status of your heart and lungs during your surgery, it is
more difficult for them to tell if there is anything going wrong with
your nervous system. For surgeries which may place these organs at risk such
as those that decompress the spinal cord, remove abnormal brain tissue, or
involve the blood supply to the nervous system, intraoperative neuromonitoring is
invaluable
to help minimize risk during surgery. Among the
techniques used in surgical neurophysiology are methods for measuring the
minute electrical signals that arise from nerves or muscle activity that is
related to nerve irritation, lack of localized oxygen or tissue damage.
Other techniques involving infrared light
Doppler ultrasonography may also be used.
Neurophysiologic
monitoring involves an assortment of monitoring techniques which may be requested
by your surgeon to obtain knowledge of the function
of your nervous system and other organs at various points during your
surgery. This type of monitoring may involve the recording of brain waves
produced in response to various stimuli including applying electrical pulses
to the nerves, flashes of light to the eyes, and clicks of sound to the
ears. Muscles are also monitored for electrical activity that might
suggest irritation or injury to the nerves supplying them. These procedures have been
applied in thousands of surgeries without side effects. They
provide your surgeon with insight as to the condition of the
nervous system throughout the surgical procedure. Y our
surgical neurophysiologist when working with the nurse,
surgeon and anesthesiologist completes the surgical team.
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Benefits:
S urgical
neurophysiology provides a unique measure of safety during the
surgical procedure that may not be obtained by other means.
Surgical neurophysiology can help in preventing serious injury to the
spinal cord, brain or peripheral nerves - organs that are at risk
during many types of surgery.
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Risks:
The goal of
neurophysiologic monitoring is to reduce risk, but needle electrodes
used in these procedures may cause droplets of blood or bruises to
form and surface electrodes may cause chafing or irritation. There is
also a remote but real chance of infection occurring and the placement
of electrodes increases the risk of electrical burns occurring at the
electrode sites. Additionally, muscle contractions occurring during
the procedures can cause injury.
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 Active
Diagnostics
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216 F St.
Suite # 76
Davis, CA 95616
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Ph:
(800)
305-6234
Fax: (866)
668-1229
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