Anesthesia for Patients Scheduled for Intraoperative Electrophysiological Monitoring

A variety of anesthesia methods can be used during surgery where intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is used. Clearly, the anesthesia must be chosen for each patient based on their comorbidities, including the degree of neural compromise that may impact monitoring. In addition, the choice of anesthesia depends on the planned surgery and the particular monitoring modalities being used. Anesthesia for the modalities can be divided by their sensitivities to inhalational anesthetic agents, neuromuscular blocking drugs, or both. The most challenging situation is when the modalities employed include modalities sensitive to both classes of agents where a total intravenous anesthesia must be utilized. A variety of supplemental agents can provide specific enhancement of the anesthesia when needed.