Assessment of somatosensory evoked potentials during resuscitation of a 15-year-old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are likely to suffer from cardiac insufficiency. Subclinical cardiac insufficiency may decompensate intraoperatively. During spinal surgery, recording of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) is the standard method of spinal cord monitoring. Assessment of SSEP has proven to be a highly prognostic measure of neurological outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In the case presented, scalp SSEP as response to stimulation of both median and tibial nerves were recorded during spinal surgery in a 15-year-old boy with DMD. The patient developed severe hypotension and circulatory collapse intraoperatively. SSEP were measured before, during and up to 3 h after circulatory collapse. He was successfully resuscitated and fully recovered. Latencies of SSEP remained stable from all extremities whereas amplitudes significantly decreased during CPR, but recovered completely within 3 h. The amplitudes of SSEP serve as a more sensitive marker for brain ischaemia than latencies. Stability of latencies and full recovery of amplitudes within 3 h indicated sufficient CPR and predicted a good neurological recovery.