[Intraoperative unilateral changes in myogenic motor evoked potentials in patients undergoing thoracic aortic surgery].
Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) can be employed for monitoring the functional integrity of the descending motor pathways during thoracic aortic surgery. Since MEPs can be affected by a variety of intraoperative factors, intraoperative MEP changes have to be carefully interpreted. In this report, we describe two patients undergoing thoracic aortic surgery, in whom MEPs from the unilateral lower limb disappeared after femoral artery cannulation, and MEPs' recovered by modifying the position or removing the cannula. MEPs in the contralateral side remained unchanged. Neither patients showed postoperative neurologic dysfunction in the lower limbs. These observations suggest that regional ischemia of the lower limbs caused by femoral artery cannulation can affect intraoperative MEP finding.
Shimoda
T
T
Department of Anesthesiology, Nara Medical University, Kashihara 634-8852.
Inoue
S
S
Kakimoto
M
M
Sakamoto
T
T
Kawaguchi
M
M
Kitaguchi
K
K
Furuya
H
H
Tabayashi
N
N
Taniguchi
S
S
D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor; D005263:Femoral Artery; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000209:etiology; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology