Intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring in the spine surgery

Intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (INM) has been growing up as an indispensable method to reduce the risk of the operation-related neuronal damage in various kinds of spine surgeries during the last four decades. To maximize the efficiency of INM, nowadays, many neurophysiologists continue to research the application of the fnovel techniques and the optimization of the existing modalities such as somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), motor evoked potentials (MEP), electromyography (EMG), etc. In this article, we review not only the current technique of various INM modalities using in the spine surgery but also the clinical meaning of the INM regarding the diagnostic value for the detection of neural damage during the surgery and the therapeutic value for the decrease of the postoperative neurologic deficits in the spine surgery.