What is a facial nerve monitor?

Facial nerve monitoring has been increasingly routinely used as an intraoperative adjunctive method to help the head and neck surgeon to identify and minimize facial nerve injury during parotid surgery. The goals, current applications, recent technical advances, and limitations of the method are reviewed.

How does a facial nerve monitor work?

This technique monitors muscles innervated by the facial nerve at risk during surgery. Iatrogenic trauma to nerves evokes high-frequency bursts of motor unit potentials called neurotonic discharges that are detected by a monitor. This alerts the surgeon and may help to prevent serious or irreversible injury.

What is nerve integrity monitoring?

Nerve integrity monitoring works to compliment surgery as it gives your surgeon a unique set of tools to identify hard to locate nerves, trace and confirm the nerve path, and monitor nerve function in real-time. This can help preserve nerve function and improve patient safety during surgery.

What is Tragal pointer?

The “cartilaginous pointer” or “tragal pointer”: the anterior tip of the tragus portion of the external ear cartilage. The main trunk is reported to be 1 cm deep and inferior to the pointer. The main trunk is reported to be 6 to 8 mm from the inferiomedial end of this suture line.

How does the nim nerve monitoring system work?

NIM nerve monitoring electrodes are placed in the appropriate muscle locations in the patient for the procedure being performed. (Color-coded placement guides are included in the NIM software.) These electrodes are connected to the NIM Nerve Monitoring System, which continuously monitors EMG activity from muscles innervated by the affected nerve.

What can Nim 3.0 do for nerve damage?

NIM™ systems monitor EMG activity from multiple muscles. If there is a change in nerve function, the NIM™ system may provide audible and visual warnings to help reduce the risk of nerve damage. 1,2 Our NIM™ 3.0 systems feature a touch screen with three simple user modes, and default or customer settings. They also offer:

Which is the best facial nerve monitoring system?

7.  Many facial nerve monitoring systems are available commercially, including the Nerve Integrity Monitor (Xomed, Inc., Jacksonville, FL), Neurosign 100 (Smith & Nephew Richards, Inc., Memphis, TN), Brackmann II (WR Medical Electronics Co., Stillwater, MN), and NEI (Grass Instrument Co., Quincy, MA).  All of these devices use EMG.

How are nerve monitors used in ENT surgery?

Intraoperative NIM nerve monitoring systems enable surgeons to identify, confirm, and monitor motor nerve function to help reduce the risk of nerve damage during various procedures, including ENT and general surgeries. NIM-Response 3.0 for ENT surgery NIM 3.0 Nerve Monitors