Feasibility of Using Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring for Detecting Bone Layer of Cervical Spine Surgery.

Study design: Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) as a guide to bone layer estimation was examined during posterior cervical spine lamina grinding.

Objective: To explore the feasibility of IONM to estimate bone layer thickness.

Summary of background data: Cervical laminoplasty is a classic operation for cervical spondylosis. To increase safety and accuracy, surgery-assistant robots are currently being studied. It combines the advantages of various program awareness methods to form a feasible security strategy. In the field of spinal surgery, robots have been successfully used to help place pedicle screws. IONM is used to monitor intraoperative nerve conditions in spinal surgery. This study was designed to explore the feasibility of adding IONM to robot safety strategies.

Methods: Chinese miniature pig model was used. Electrodes were placed on the lamina, and the minimum stimulation threshold of DNEP for each lamina was measured (Intact lamina, IL). The laminae were ground to measure the DNEP threshold after incomplete grinding (Inner cortical bone preserved, ICP) and complete grinding (Inner cortical bone grinded, ICG). Subsequently, the lateral cervical mass screw canal drilling was performed, and the t-EMG threshold of the intact and perforated screw canals was measured and compared.

Result: The threshold was significantly lower than that of the recommended threshold of DENP via percutaneous cervical laminae measurement. The DNEP threshold decreases with the process of laminae grinding. The DNEP threshold of the IL group was significantly higher than ICP and ICG group, while there was no significant difference between the ICP group and the ICG group. There was no significant relationship between the integrity of the cervical spine lateral mass screw path and t-EMG threshold.

Conclusions: It is feasible to use DENP threshold to estimate lamina thickness. Cervical lateral mass screw canals by t-EMG showed no help to evaluate the integrity.