Effects of intraoperative hyperthermia on peripheral nerves: Neurological and electrophysiological studies

The tolerance of peripheral nerves to heat may limit the heat dose which can be applied to tumours. This may be particularly important in intraoperative hyperthermia (IOHT) for pelvic and retroperitoneal tumours. Furthermore the effects of hyperthermia alone must be known before its effects can be assessed in combination with irradiation. In this study injury to sciatic nerves was evaluated in 30 beagle dogs for 1 year following IOHT. IOHT was performed using a water circulating hyperthermia device with multichannel thermometry system. Neurological and electrophysiological examinations were done before, during and after IOHT treatment. Electrophysiological examinations showed a significant decrease in sciatic nerve conduction velocity and potential amplitude immediately after 60 min of heating for all temperatures. The greatest decrease in conduction velocity was observed for a temperature of 45°C. Full recovery of nerve conduction velocity was observed 3 weeks following hyperthermia for all dogs except f...