Examining the effectiveness of motor-evoked potential monitoring and evoked electromyography to improve the safety of minimally invasive spine surgery

Abstract

We retrospectively calculated the complication rates in spinal surgeries performed at our hospital from 2012 to 2021, and evaluated effectiveness of motor-evoked potentials and/or triggered electromyography for safety. While there was no significant difference in the group using motor-evoked potentials alone, there was a tendency to reduced the incidence rate when we combined motor-evoked potentials with triggered electromyography in lumbar spine surgeries. However, there were cases in which abnormalities could not be predicted intraoperatively under electromyography. This suggests the need for further improvement in monitoring accuracy, such as enhancing leakage prevention measures for intraoperative bleeding and adjusting the cutoff value for warning current.