Fast measurement of SEP for monitoring spinal cord during scoliosis

Recently there has been considerable interest in the use of somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) for monitoring the functional integrity of the spinal cord during surgery such as scoliosis. This paper describes a monitoring system and signal processing algorithms, which consist of an artificial neural network filter and a wavelet signal enhancer developed to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of surface recorded SEP. The authors' system allows fast detection of change in SEP's peak latency, amplitude and signal waveform, which are the main parameters of interest during intra-operative procedures.