Electrophysiological monitoring in selective posterior rhizotomy for spasticity: principles, techniques and interpretation of responses

Abstract

Since the introduction of intraoperative electro-stimulation technique by Fasano et al (1978, 1979, 1988), selective posterior rhizotomy (SPR) has gained renewed interest as an effective treatment of spasticity associated with cerebral palsy. A monitoring technique which identifies those posterior rootlets that are to be sectioned requires the ability to yield quick and reliable data. Over the past two years at the Children’s Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Chicago, more than 100 SPRs have been performed and this article details our monitoring technique (Storrs et al. 1988) and compares it to that of Fasano et al (1978) (Table 1).