[Monitoring of therapeutic neuroradiologic examination and therapeutic procedures using evoked potentials]

Interventional neuroradiology makes use of different diagnostic and therapeutic catheterization techniques. Treatments performed are local intraarterial thrombolytic therapy, embolization and occlusion of brain supplying arteries, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and intraarterial application of drugs. These treatments make it most important to check the patients neurological state during the procedure. Intraoperative monitoring of evoked potentials offers the opportunity to get objective information about changes in certain central nervous system functions even in anaesthesized patients. Usually intraoperative monitoring is performed to obtain information whether the function of structures at risk remains stable or is altered by the operation. This represents a more passive, observing way of monitoring. During interventional neuroradiology one is enabled to take additionally a more active and experimental way of monitoring by using the advantages of special catheter techniques like series of reversible balloon occlusion or intraarterial drug application. This leads to a dialogue between the radiologist and the neurophysiologist about the safety or the risk of the next step during a procedure. There are mainly two types of new information that can be achieved by active monitoring: the identification of functional territories of single or multiple feeding vessels and new insights into hemodynamics and the establishing of new sufficient collaterals. We have used intraoperative neuromonitoring in 35 patients during interventional neuroradiology. Our findings will be summarized and the usefulness of the different monitoring methods will be discussed.