VALUE OF SOMATOSENSORY EVOKED POTENTIALS FOR SPINE PATHOLOGY STUDY

Objective. To analyze the efficacy of dynamic neurophysiologic monitoring for diagnosis and treatment of patients with spine diseases and injuries during decompression and decompression/stabilization surgery of the spine. Materials and Methods. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) were recorded in 297 patients with the spine diseases and injuries. Besides, 118 patients underwent intraoperative monitoring of SSEP and neural evoked potentials. Patients with abdomen dysfunction were examined by cystometry, profilometry, and urofluometry. Results. Neurophysiological examinations for spine injuries allow to verify the level of spinal cord conductor injury and to assess the degree of functional disorders in spinal cord structures. In degenerative spine the changes in SSEP parameters occur only in disturbed spinal arteriovenous and venous circulation accompanied by expressed motor and sensitive conduction disorders. The SSEP study is most informative when inflammatory process is localized in the cervical or thoracic spine. In different forms of dysraphic status (diastematomyelia, syringomyelia, Chiari malformation) the SSEP study can not be a determinative diagnosis method. Conclusion. Considering the relative simplicity of SSEP study and its value for dynamic examination of spinal cord conductors, it can be recommended as an obligatory test to assess indications for spine surgery for vascular disorders associated with degenerative-dystrophic diseases of the spine.