Spinal cord monitoring. State of the art. Results in Harrington and C.D. instrumentation for scoliosis.

In scoliosis surgery, it is of paramount importance to obtain extensive correction of the curve without compromising the integrity of the spinal cord. Up to now, the wake-up test has been used for the intra-operative assessment of spinal cord function. Besides the fact that the test only provides a single evaluation, it is also encumbered with some potential hazards related to the anesthetic procedure. An additional problem arises when the technique is applied in psychiatric patients. An alternative approach is the continuous recording of evoked potentials obtained from sensory stimulation. The method permits uninterrupted intra-operative monitoring of the neurological status of the cord.