Summary of background data: Lateral interbody fusion is a minimally invasive procedure that is gaining popularity. Hip flexion weakness has been noted postoperatively but the cause of the weakness still remains unknown. The objective of this study is to evaluate if conventional neuromonitoring with electromyography (EMG), somatosensory (SSEP), and motor evoked potentials (MEP) allows surgeons to detect potential nerve injuries that standard EMG monitoring may miss.
Method:Patients undergoing lateral interbody fusion were monitored with standard electromyography and conventional neuromonitoring with electromyography, somatosensory evoked potentials, and motor evoke potentials. All consecutive lateral interbody fusion patients who had a minimum 2-year follow-up were included in the analysis. Data gathered included VAS, ODI, as well as radiographic fusion assessment. Hip flexion weakness was considered significant if the muscle grade decreased by 2 or more.Results: 113 subjects were recruited for this study. Pain scores (visual analog scores) decreased from 6.4 ± 2.1 pre-operatively to 3.2 ± 2.35 post-operatively at 2 years (p<0.0001). Functional scores (Oswestry Disability Index) improved by 30% from 41.5 ± 14.6 pre-operatively to 29.2 ± 17.5 post-operatively at 2-year follow-up (p<0.0001). 3 cases of significant hip flexion weakness were noted postoperatively. Electromyography from both systems and somatosensory evoked potenatials from conventional neuromonitoring were unchanged during these cases. Changes were noted on motor evoked potenatials in all three of these cases. This suggests that the hip flexion weakness may be due to a neurologic injury that is occurring during the case despite normal electromyography readings.Discussion: Electromyography is a reliable monitoring tool during lateral intrerbody fusion surgery with a reliability of 97.5% (110/113). However, there is the potential of neurologic injury despite normal electromyograpy and somatorsensory evoked potentials during the case. Physicians need to be aware of this and patients should be counseled appropriately.