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Aneurysms arising from the anterior communicating artery (ACOA) are the most common intracranial aneurysms encountered. Most aneurysms can be treated with surgical clipping or endovascular coiling; however, there are times when parent vessel sacrifice (PVS) is necessary such as aneurysms with fragile necks or large/giant aneurysms. Application of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) can assist in guiding permissive temporary vessel occlusion during complex aneurysm clippings. However, to-date there is no literature that describes how IONM can be used as a predictor of post-operative neurological status when PVS is employed or as a guide to determine whether PVS is safe. We present a case where IONM guided the sacrifice of the A1 and anterior communicating arteries after 2 hours and 25 min of temporary vessel occlusion. No attenuation was noted in the IONM at any point during the procedure, and the IONM predicted the patient would awake neurologically intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal carotid artery (ICA) may inhibit visualization of a basilar tip aneurysm during an orbitozygomatic craniotomy. Retraction of the ICA may be warranted for better visualization; however, it may lead to impending neurological sequelae. Impending neurological injury due to ICA retraction may be mitigated if multi-modal neuromonitoring techniques are employed. The authors present a case report showing the contemporaneous loss of transcranial motor evoked potentials and direct cortical motor evoked potentials during an exoscopic clipping of a basilar tip aneurysm due to ICA retraction and subsequent loss of perfusion to the vascular territory supplied by ICA. The motor evoked potentials immediately returned after retraction was removed and the patient awoke neurologically intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awake craniotomy is advocated for the resection of supratentorial low-grade gliomas (LGG). The combination of neurophysiological electrical mapping techniques and performing the craniotomy awake has demonstrated increased total and supratotal resection of LGG, as well as increased overall survival rates. We present an illustrative case where the patient's gross motor function deteriorated during the resection of a LGG and mapping techniques using the phase reversal technique and Taniguchi direct cortical stimulation technique while the patient was awake proved to be valuable in determining continuity of the corticospinal tracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. The utilization of cortical mapping during cranioto- mies for epilepsy and brain tumor resection is extremely important. Cortical mapping can guide the surgical team intraoperatively with regards to the layout of important anatomical structures and their function to prevent post-operative deficits. Electroneurophysiological methods employed include sensorimotor localization recorded directly from the surface of the brain when stimulated from a peripheral nerve and direct cortical stimulation (DCS) of the motor cortex to elicit a distal muscle response. This paper presents a case, in which a paradigm of neurophysiological modalities is utilized to assist the surgeon in creating a topographic map of the motor cortex and with localizing the sensory and motor cortices, in addition to a historical review of functional localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]