BAEPs in surgery

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the short-latency auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), most often called “brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs),” are the AEPs most often used for clinical diagnostic purposes because they are relatively easy to record and their waveforms and latencies are highly consistent across normal subjects. They are almost identical in waking and sleeping states. The chapter reviews that some of the intraoperative BAEP changes are attributable to the changes in body temperature rather than the anesthetic effects. Because of their resistance to anesthetic agents, BAEPs can be used for intraoperative monitoring of the ears and the infratentorial auditory pathways. The chapter also explores that extraoperative diagnostic BAEP tests are evaluated by comparing the BAEPs to those of a control normal population. It is difficult to ensure during intraoperative monitoring, where the anesthetic regimen, the body temperature, the delivered stimulus intensity, and the other factors may differ from patient to patient. Therefore, during intraoperative BAEP monitoring, each patient serves as his/her own control; BAEPs recorded at the time the elements of the auditory pathways are at risk and are compared to those recorded earlier during the same operation.