• Hiroki Ushirozako, Go Yoshida, Shiro Imagama, Masaaki Machino, Muneharu Ando, Shigenori Kawabata, Kei Yamada, Tsukasa Kanchiku, Yasushi Fujiwara, Shinichirou Taniguchi, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Hideki Shigematsu, Nobuaki Tadokoro, Masahito Takahashi, Kanichiro Wada, Naoya Yamamoto, Masahiro Funaba, Akimasa Yasuda, Jun Hashimoto, Shinji Morito, Tsunenori Takatani, Kazuyoshi Kobayashi, Kazuyoshi Nakanishi, Kenta Kurosu, and Yukihiro Matsuyama.
• Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
• Spine. 2023 Oct 1; 48 (19): 138813961388-1396.

Study DesignA prospective multicenter observational cohort study.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the role of transcranial motor evoked potential (TcMEP) monitoring during traumatic spinal injury surgery, the timing of TcMEP alerts, and intervention strategies to avoid intraoperative neurological complications.Summary Of Background DataIntraoperative neuromonitoring, including TcMEP monitoring, is commonly used in high-risk spinal surgery to predict intraoperative spinal cord injury; however, little information is available on its use in traumatic spinal injury surgery.MethodsThe TcMEP monitoring data of 350 consecutive patients who underwent traumatic spinal injury surgery (mean age, 69.3 y) between 2017 and 2021 were prospectively reviewed. In this study, a TcMEP amplitude reduction ≥70% was established as a TcMEP alert. A rescue case was defined as a case with the recovery of TcMEP amplitudes after certain procedures and without postoperative neurological complications.ResultsAmong the 350 patients who underwent traumatic spinal injury surgery (TcMEP derivation rate 94%), TcMEP monitoring revealed seven true-positive (TP) (2.0%), three rescues (0.9%; rescue rate 30%), 31 false-positive, one false-negative, and 287 true-negative cases, resulting in 88% sensitivity, 90% specificity, 18% positive predictive value, and 99% negative predictive value. The TP rate in patients with preoperative motor deficits was 2.9%, which was higher than that in patients without preoperative motor deficits (1.1%). The most common timing of TcMEP alerts was during decompression (40%). During decompression, suspension of surgery with intravenous steroid injection was ineffective (rescue rate, 0%), and additional decompression was effective.ConclusionGiven the low prevalence of neurological complications (2.3%) and the low positive predictive value (18.4%), single usage of TcMEP monitoring during traumatic spinal injury surgery is not recommended. Further efforts should be made to reduce FP alert rates through better interpretation of multimodal Intraoperative neuromonitorings and the incorporation of anesthesiology to improve the positive predictive value.Level Of Evidence3.Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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