Techniques for Intraoperative Peripheral Nerve Assessment and Implications for Treatment

One of the main challenges of peripheral nerve surgery continues to be knowing when to operate and what strategies to use intraoperatively. Nevertheless, new techniques are increasingly allowing peripheral nerve surgeons to assess and treat nerve lesions with more precision. This chapter seeks to summarize the surgeon’s options for analyzing peripheral nerves intraoperatively. Methods discussed include electrodiagnostics, specifically intraoperative nerve actions potentials, somatosensory and motor-evoked potentials, histochemical stains, and radioisotopic analysis.