Anesthesia During Neurophysiologic Monitoring in Scoliosis Patients

Anesthesia During Neurophysiologic Monitoring in Scoliosis Patients: Volatile Agents Versus Total Intravenous Anesthesia

When patients have spinal surgery, electrodes are placed on the body to measure motor evoked potentials (MEP) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP). Many hospitals only use IV anesthesia because they feel that measuring MEP and SSEP is easier using IV anesthesia. At this hospital the investigators typically use inhaled anesthesia and are able to successfully measure MEP and SSEP. This is a study to find out if one method of anesthesia is better than the other for measuring MEP and SSEP.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with neuromuscular scoliosis.