Somatosensory-Evoked Potentials During Aortic Coarctation Repair

Objective: To determine the incidence of somatosensoryevoked potential (SSEP) changes and the interventions based on these changes during aortic coarctation repair. Design: Retrospective review. Setting: Single-institution, university hospital. Participants: Eighty-four children who had undergone surgical repair of aortic coarctation from January 1984 to May 1996. Interventions: SSEPs were monitored in all patients throughout the procedure. A persistent decrease in amplitude greater than 50% from baseline was considered significant. Duration of SSEP changes in relation to the time course of surgical repair and whether a surgical or anesthetic intervention resulted from a change in SSEPs were documented. Measurements and Main Results: Eighty-four patients underwent 87 surgical procedures. SSEP changes occurred in 40% of the procedures: 38.5% with repair and 15% with test clamp, with 9% occurring during both test clamp and repair. Interventions, which included repositioning the aortic crossclamp, elevating blood pressure, and aborting surgery, occurred in 26.4% of all procedures based on SSEP changes. No patient sustained a neurologic deficit. Conclusion: This is the largest series to date describing the use of SSEPs in aortic coarctation repair. These SSEP changes were often immediately amenable to changes in surgical and anesthetic management. SSEP changes and interventions based on these changes occurred with a considerable frequency.