The effects of halothane on somatosensory and flash visual evoked potentials during operations

Intraoperative use of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP's) to monitor intracranial aneurysm surgery and flash visual evoked potentials (F-VEP's) for parasellar surgery have been routinely employed in our clinic. We found that both EP modalities are sensitive to the changing concentration of our standard hypotensive agent, halothane. The prolongation of the N14-N20 interpeak latency to median nerve stimulation at the wrist, and prolongation of P100 latency with altered configuration of early VEP components to flash light stimulation, appear to be the results of direct pharmacological effects of the agent and not an effect of secondary hypotension. VEP is found easily abolished by halothane at a concentration of 2.0%, while the SEP is more resistant. Halothane is not ideal however when monitoring intraoperative VEP.