Journal of neurosurgery
-
Journal of neurosurgery · Feb 2010
Intraoperative monitoring of cortically recorded visual response for posterior visual pathway.
Intraoperative monitoring of visual evoked potentials (VEPs) has been regarded as having limited significance for the preservation of visual function during neurosurgical procedures, mainly due to its poor spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. The authors evaluated the usefulness of cortically recorded VEPs, instead of the usual scalp VEPs, as intraoperative monitoring focusing on the posterior visual pathway. ⋯ Direct recording from the visual cortices under general anesthesia achieved satisfactory detectability of the visual response to a light-emitting diode flashing light. Although the initial waveforms varied greatly among patients, they were stable during microsurgical procedures, and the changes were consistent with postoperative visual function. Intraoperative cortical VEP monitoring is a potentially useful procedure to monitor the functional integrity of the posterior visual pathway.