Neurosurgery
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Somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) monitoring is used during intracranial aneurysm surgery to track the effects of anesthesia, surgical manipulation, and temporary clipping. ⋯ Intraoperative SSEP changes are more reliable in unruptured aneurysm cases than in ruptured cases. Whereas irreversible changes in unruptured cases were associated with an 80% stroke rate, such changes in ruptured cases did not have any adverse ischemic sequelae in 58% of patients. This information is helpful during the intraoperative assessment of reported SSEP changes.