Monitoring cerebral ischemia during cerebrovascular surgery

Patients undergoing intracranial cerebrovascular surgery under general anesthesia are at risk of cerebral ischemia due to the nature of the surgery and/or the underlying cerebrovascular occlusive disease. It is thus imperative to reliably and continuously monitor cerebral perfusion during this type of surgery to timely reverse ischemic processes. The aim of this review is to discuss the techniques currently available for monitoring cerebral ischemia during cerebrovascular surgery with a focus on the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.