Anesthesia and evoked responses in neurosurgery

Intraoperative evoked potential (EP) monitoring has become a routine part of operative neurosurgical procedures. The theoretical, technical, and clinical aspects of various EPs have been extensively characterized and significant clinical experience has been accumulated with this modality of neuromonitoring. Successful EP monitoring requires an adequate understanding of how anesthetic drugs and physiological variations affect EP signals and how to improve the sensitivity of neuromonitoring through appropriate drug selection and administration.