No abstract

Prolonged reduction of intraoperative tcMEP amplitude is predictive for postoperative neurologic dysfunction, while recovery of the tcMEP signal within 10 min after the initial decline corresponds with normal histopathology and motor function in this experimental model. This finding confirms that intraoperative tcMEPs have a good prognostic value for neurologic outcome during procedures in which the spinal cord is at risk for ischemia.

The aim of our study was to compare primary three-dimensional (3D) and primary two-dimensional (2D) review methods for CT colonography with regard to polyp detection and perceptive errors. CT colonography studies of 77 patients were read twice by three reviewers, first with a primary 3D method and then with a primary 2D method. Mean numbers of true and false positives, patient sensitivity and specificity and perceptive errors were calculated with colonoscopy as a reference standard. A perceptive error was made if a polyp was not detected by all reviewers. Mean sensitivity for large (≥10 mm) polyps for primary 3D and 2D review was 81% (14.7/18) and 70% (12.7/18), respectively (p-values ≥0.25). Mean numbers of large false positives for primary 3D and 2D were 8.3 and 5.3, respectively. With primary 3D and 2D review 1 and 6 perceptive errors, respectively, were made in 18 large polyps (p=0.06). For mediumsized (6-9 mm) polyps these values were for primary 3D and 2D, respectively: mean sensitivity: 67%(11.3/17) and 61%(10.3/17; p-values≥ 0.45), number of false positives: 33.3 and 15.6, and perceptive errors : 4 and 6 (p= 0.53). No significant differences were found in the detection of large and medium-sized polyps between primary 3D and 2D review.