• Ibrahim Sultan, James A Brown, Derek Serna-Gallegos, Parthasarathy D Thirumala, Jeffrey R Balzer, Stephanie Paras, Cara Fleseriu, Donald J Crammond, Katherine M Anetakis, Arman Kilic, Forozan Navid, and Thomas G Gleason.
• Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa; Heart and Vascular Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa. Electronic address: sultani@upmc.edu.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2023 Jun 1; 165 (6): 19711981.e21971-1981.e2.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the ability of intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM) during aortic arch reconstruction with hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) to predict early (<48 hours) adverse neurologic events (ANE; stroke or transient ischemic attack) and operative mortality.MethodsThis was an observational study of aortic arch surgeries requiring HCA from 2010 to 2018. Patients were monitored with electroencephalogram (EEG) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP). Baseline characteristics and postoperative outcomes were compared according to presence or absence of IONM changes, which were defined as any acute variation in SSEP or EEG, compared with baseline. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association of IONM changes with operative mortality and early ANE.ResultsA total of 563 patients underwent aortic arch reconstruction with HCA and IONM. Of these, 119 (21.1%) patients had an IONM change, whereas 444 (78.9%) did not. Patients with IONM changes had increased operative mortality (22.7% vs 4.3%) and increased early ANE (10.9% vs 2.9%). In multivariable analysis, SSEP changes were correlated with early ANE (odds ratio [OR], 4.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.51-14.56; P = .008), whereas EEG changes were not (P = .532). Permanent SSEP changes were correlated with early ANE (OR, 4.56; 95% CI, 1.51-13.77; P = .007), whereas temperature-related SSEP changes were not (P = .997). Finally, any IONM change (either SSEP or EEG) was correlated with operative mortality (OR, 5.82; 95% CI, 2.72-12.49; P < .001).ConclusionsAbnormal IONM events during aortic arch reconstruction with HCA portend worse neurologic outcomes and operative mortality and have a negative predictive value of 97.1%. SSEP might be more sensitive than EEG for predicting early ANE, especially when SSEP changes are permanent.Copyright © 2021 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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