| Research Abstract |
A multichannel spinal cord monitoring system has been developed through the animal experiments using cats from 1988 to 1990. The basic study in thisproject consisted of the following researches : 1) Relationships between evoked spinal cord action pot entials (L2 descending ESCP, L5 descend ESCP, ascemndng ESCP, segmental ESCP, and motor segmental ESCP) in spinal cord ischemia and the cord dysfunction, 2) Technical problems on deliveration of direct determination of spinal cord blood flow, 3) Effects of hypothermia on spinal cord action potentials, 4) Origins and conducting tracts of evoked spinal cord potentials elicited by peripheral nerve stimulation, 5) Origins and conducting pathways of motor evoked potentials elicited by transcranial (vertex-hard palate) stimulation, and 6) Effects of epidural electrical stimulation modalities on spinal cord function and morphlogy. From the results of these basic researches, five signals were selected for evaluation of spinal cord dysfunction. The signals were consisted of amplitude changes of the two definite action potentials, spinal cord blood flow detected by laser system (in animals), and body temperature (in human). In this alarm system, these datas were put in a computer system, and automatically displayed as a radar chart with the reference. This system is thought to be able to detect the ischmic changes as well as the mechanical insults to the cord. This system composed of hard and soft wares, and the availability was confirmed for detecting cord dysfunctions during spinal cord surgery or aortic surgery in animals.
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