The In-Between
June 12, 2019
Surgery is serious business. No matter how many times a surgeon has performed a particular operation and no matter how many years of education that doctor has had, there is always a chance that something could go wrong.
And, when something goes wrong, it can quickly mean life-changing side effects such as pain and discomfort, and in some cases, even death.
To reduce the potential for complications, surgeons and physicians evaluate their patients at length before anyone has ever set foot in an operating room.
During this evaluation, patients' overall health is assessed to determine if they are a viable candidate for surgery. This assessment also helps to identify potential risk factors that could complicate things in the operating room or after the procedure.
Potential risk factors include a patient's body mass index (BMI), health and family history, underlying health conditions, age, allergies, and behavioral habits, such as smoking and drinking. These risk factors can make surgery dangerous for some individuals or also negatively impact healing.
After surgery, patients are closely monitored and managed during their recovery period.
"Many individuals have to visit their doctor after surgery at different intervals to make sure that they are healing and healthy, and to determine if there were benefits to the procedure or there were problems that developed because of the procedure," said Dr. Faisal Jahangiri of AXIS Neuromonitoring in Richardson, Texas.
While pre-surgery examinations and post-surgery checkups are the norms for patients, what about the in-between? What happens in between to monitor patients during procedures?
"In some cases, patients are monitored during their surgical procedures using a variety of machines and devices," Jahangiri said.
But, who monitors those devices?
At AXIS Neuromonitoring, it's a team of highly trained intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) technologists.
Neuromonitoring technologists are the individuals who work alongside the anesthesiologists and surgeons in operating rooms. They monitor brain signals and the nervous system during the procedure to help head off or at least reduce the risk of complications caused by surgery.
"Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is a key part of surgery because it helps to reduce the chance of damage to the nervous system," Jahangiri said.
Think about it: Surgery requires incisions and cutting through tissues, blood vessels and nerves. Depending on the nerves that are impacted, different systems in the body can be affected.
"With some procedures, particularly those involving the brain or spine, there is a higher risk of paralysis, partial paralysis or other effects to a body system, such as the bladder or bowels," Jahangiri said.
In rare cases, paralysis can happen when the brain and spine are involved.
"For example, if a surgeon is working to remove a mass on the spinal cord or remove a disc in the lower back, although the risk of paralysis is small, there is a greater chance of paralysis versus a knee replacement," Jahangiri said.
The increased potential for problems makes having neuromonitoring services in the operating room that much more important.
"Being able to reduce risk is significant for both the patient and the surgeon," Jahangiri said.
