David W Allison, Amit Verma, Paul J Holman, Meng Huang, Todd W Trask, Sean M Barber, Anthony R Cockrell, Matthew R Weber, Dalton W Brooks, Leo Delgado, William J Steele, Jonathan N Sellin, Loyola V Gressot, Bradley Lambert, Brandy B Ma, Amir H Faraji, Comron Saifi
BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Transcranial Motor Evoked Potentials (TcMEPs) can improve intraoperative detection of femoral plexus and nerve root injury during lumbosacral spine surgery. However, even under ideal conditions, TcMEPs are not completely free of false-positive alerts due to the immobilizing effect of general anesthetics, especially in the proximal musculature. The application of transcutaneous stimulation to activate ventral nerve roots directly at the level of the conus medularis (bypassing the brain and spinal cord) has emerged as a method to potentially monitor the motor component of the femoral plexus and lumbosacral nerves free from the blunting effects of general anesthesia...
April 27, 2024: Spine Journal: Official Journal of the North American Spine Society