Aim: To summarize our experience gathered during the use of different intraoperative electrophysiological modalities in children.
Materials and methods: We analyzed the data collected from 96 pediatric neurosurgical interventions. During the operations, we used a combination of intraoperative electrophysiological examinations tailored to the actual pathologies. The modalities included cortical and white matter mapping, cranial nerve and cranial nerve nucleus stimulation, motor evoked potential (MEP), somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP), peripheral nerve stimulation, bulbocavernosus reflex, and a special setup for selective dorsal rhizotomy.
Results: The success ratio of the different modalities varied between 25% and 100%. All the applied methods could be used in children.
Conclusion: Although the application of certain intraoperative techniques could be limited due to the ongoing developmental and maturation processes in childhood, we can not exclude the possibility of successful recording in any modality. Thus, we recommend to apply all the available methods in children bearing in mind that the success ratio might be lower than that in the adult population.
Keywords: Electrophysiology; intraoperative; neurosurgery; pediatric.