Category: IONM

The field of intraoperative monitoring, which is also called intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM), has been booming. The number of private companies that work in the IONM field has increased dramatically. As part of that growth, there have been issues with oversight of the doctors and technologists involved.

The responsibilities of intraoperative monitoring technicians is to interpret data from the patient’s nervous system in real-time as it occurs during surgery. If there is a problem, the technician must notify the surgeon immediately. The technician must also monitor the equipment to ensure that it is properly functioning. Currently, there is no standard that exists for credentialing technicians and doctors that work in the field of IONM. As a result, hospitals normally create their own criteria and standards.

If you are harmed during your surgery that was being monitored by an IONM technician, you may be able to sue for medical malpractice. In order to do that, you should speak with an attorney. Medical malpractice cases are complex, particularly cases involving IONM. Your attorney can help obtain your medical records related to the surgery and the monitoring, and can help ensure that those records are complete. Your attorney can then work with medical professionals who can help evaluate if there was a breakdown in communication between the technician and the doctor, if there was a problem with the equipment, or if there were other problems.

If you have been harmed during a surgical procedure that was being monitored using intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, you should speak with an attorney. Call me, Conal Doyle, IONM attorney at 310-385-0567. I have experience in IONM malpractice cases and I can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

Good luck with your upcoming procedure. If your surgeon has recommended that you undergo monitoring, you should take his or her recommendation, or possibly get a second opinion.

Laminectomies are back surgeries that are commonly called decompression surgeries. They enlarge your spinal canal in order to relieve pressure on your spinal cord and nerves. Intraoperative neuromonitoring involves hooking electrodes to a patient’s body during surgery to monitor the nervous system. A technician monitors the signals that the nervous system sends, and communicates that information to the surgeon. This allows the surgeon to know in real time whether the nervous system is being damaged during surgery.

Some studies have shown that intraoperative neuromonitoring can reduce the chance of a bad outcome during surgery by 50 percent or more. Without the monitoring, the surgeon may not know that something bad has happened during the surgery until it is too late.

Although intraoperative neuromonitoring has minimal risks and typically makes surgical procedures safer, there have been cases where the neuromonitoring has been poorly performed and the patient was severely harmed during surgery. In that case, the patient should speak with an attorney who can advise him or her of their legal rights. If you believe that you have been harmed during surgery, call me, Conal Doyle, intraoperative neuromonitoring attorney at 310-385-0567. I have experience in handling this type of case, and can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

Intraoperative neuromonitoring, also called IONM, is a technique that is used during surgery to monitor a patient’s nervous system. IONM can help prevent damage to the nerves, brain, or spinal cord. IONM is often used during surgeries that involve the spine or the brain, because if complications occur during surgery there could be a loss of neurological function.

The first step of IONM is that electrodes are placed on the skin, or under the skin, at different locations along a nerve pathway. Those electrodes are connected to a computer, which analyzes information about the nerves being monitored. The next step is that an electrode stimulates the nerve with an electrical impulse. The impulse is very quick, and only has a small amount of electrical current.

Next, after the nerves are stimulated, the nerves activity are assessed. The other electrodes along the nerve pathway will record the amount of time it takes for electrical impulses to travel between them. Then, the speed of the signal is calculated. The signal is continuously monitored and compared to the baseline information. If the signal becomes slower and weaker, this could reveal a problem with the nerve. Therefore, if there is a change in a nerve signal response, the surgeon can quickly identify the problem and take corrective action before the nerve damage is permanent.

In most cases, IONM is a very safe way to maximize the safety of certain delicate surgical procedures. There are normally few risks or drawbacks of IONM. However, IONM is a medical procedure, and all medical procedures carry some level of risk. Call me, Conal Doyle, intraoperative monitoring malpractice attorney, if you have been injured during a surgery that was monitored with IONM. I have experience in those types of cases, and can help. Call today at 310-385-0567 to learn more or to schedule your free consultation.

Good luck with your upcoming surgery. Although there are risks with all surgeries, spinal surgery in particular can be dangerous because it involves areas near the nerves and the spinal cord. During spinal surgery, there is a risk that damage to the nervous system can occur. That is one big reason that intraoperative monitoring is recommended. Intraoperative monitoring allows the surgeon to know during the surgery if or when nerve tissue is being injured or is at risk for being injured, so the problem can be corrected immediately.

Intraoperative monitoring (also called intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring) involves hooking electrodes to the body during surgery. Those electrodes monitor the nervous system and allow technicians to know if the body is not reacting as it should during surgery. Many potential complications can be avoided with careful monitoring.

In many cases, spinal surgery involves the use of hardware, such as screws, rods, plates, and more. There are a number of potential complications from the implantation of hardware, including damage to the spinal cord and the nerves. In the past, surgeons have relied on CT scans and X-rays to check the placement of hardware during surgery, but those methods aren’t always accurate. Intraoperative monitoring is more effective.

In most cases, intraoperative monitoring is quick, painless, and easy. However, it doesn’t always go as planned. If you have been harmed during a surgery that involved the use of intraoperative monitoring, you may wish to speak with an attorney. One of the members of the team may have committed medical malpractice, and you may have the right to recover compensation for your injuries. Call me, Conal Doyle, intraoperative monitoring malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. I can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.

I’m sorry to hear about your spinal stenosis. Spinal stenosis involves a narrowing of the bone channel occupied by the spinal nerves or the spinal cord. Most people with spinal stenosis develop it as part of the aging process. Many do not feel it, but if allowed to progress long enough, most people will notice radiating pain, weakness, or numbness.

Spinal stenosis is typically diagnosed using an MRI or CT scan, or both. Although there are some treatments that do not involve an operation, many patients choose to have an operation to correct spinal stenosis. There are several types of surgeries, including a laminectomy, a facet replacement or total element replacement, and interspinous process devices.

During these delicate surgeries involving the spinal cord, many surgeons choose to have the surgery monitored. This type of monitoring is called intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM), and involved hooking up electrodes to the body that can record the nervous system and how it is reacting during surgery. This can help guide the surgeon to avoid mistakes during surgery. You should talk to your doctor more about IONM if you have questions or concerns.

If you have been seriously harmed during a surgery that involved IONM, you should speak with a medical malpractice attorney. An attorney can help you determine whether or not a medical professional committed malpractice. Call me, Conal Doyle, IONM malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. I can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule your free consultation.

Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) is a general term that is used to describe testing and monitoring the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, during surgery. IONM can help the medical team know during surgery how the nervous system is working, which can make the surgery safer. It can help lower the risk of complications, such as loss of feeling or movement.

IONM is normally done by specially trained technicians, who stay with the patient during surgery. The technician monitor readings, and will notify the surgeon if anything is amiss. IONM can also help the surgeon locate specific nerves, or can let the surgeon know if hardware placed during surgery is affecting the nervous system.
Normally, the risk of complications of IONM are small. The IONM electrodes could cause infection or small burns. Pain can also be present at the electrode sites. Some more serious but rare complications include damage to a medical device, injury resulting from movement caused by nerve stimulation, heart arrhythmias, or the IONM being performed incorrectly. As a parent, it is your choice whether or not IONM is done during your child’s surgery. You should speak with your child’s surgeon about the benefits, risks, and alternatives of IONM.

If your child has already had surgery with IONM and has been harmed, you should speak with an attorney who has some experience in handling IONM malpractice cases. Call me, Conal Doyle IONM malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. We can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

I am so sorry to hear your back surgery did not go as well as expected. It sounds like you probably had intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM). IONM involves placing electrodes on your scalp, arms, legs, and other areas. The electrodes are connected to a computer, which records the events of the operation.

IONM allows the surgeon to know, in real time, whether there is any interference in the sensory nerves passing through the area of the operation and where the problem is. The IONM technician will monitor impulses that are being sent to the brain from the nerves, and inform the surgeon if there is any interference in the sensory nerves passing through the area of the operation, and where that problem is. The surgeon can also check how well motor nerves are functioning or if they are being injured during the operation. The surgeon does this by stimulating a nerve, and seeing if there is a reaction.

However, in some cases IONM does not go as planned. It can be difficult to later prove that there is a problem. Normally, your attorney must get both your chart and the monitoring data. The data will tell your attorney exactly when there was a problem, as well as what the surgeon was doing when the problem arose.

If you have been harmed during an operation that was monitored using IONM, call me, Conal Doyle. I have experience with cases involving IONM malpractice and can help with your case as well. Call today at 310-385-0567 to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.

Electromyography (EMG) is recording the electrical activity of muscles. EMG is a form of intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM). EMG recordings are typically done to monitor nerves and the integrity of nerves, including cranial nerves.

Normally, EMG involves placing several needles into the muscles that will be examined. Almost any muscle can be monitored. The responses are recorded and also displayed on a screen. If there are any changes in muscle electrical activity, those changes can be seen and heard.

EMG is used in a number of surgical procedures. It is commonly used in any procedures in which the facial nerve is at risk or another cranial nerve is at risk. It can also be used in placing pedicle screws as part of spinal surgery, treating cerebral palsy surgically, and tethered spinal cord release.

The purpose of EMG is to help guide the surgeon in real time, in order to let him or her know if there are any changes in the muscles and nerves, which can help indicate a problem. EMG during surgery has become increasingly popular over the last couple of decades. In most cases, there are few drawbacks but can be big rewards.

As with any medical procedure, EMG does not always function exactly as intended. In fact, there have been some court cases in which a patient who was harmed during a surgery that was being monitored by IONM. Patients who are harmed during surgery that is monitored by IONM may be able to recover compensation, if they can prove that their harm was caused by medical malpractice.

Call me, Conal Doyle, IONM attorney, if you have been harmed during a surgery that was being monitored by intraoperative monitoring. You may be able to recover compensation for your damages. Call today at 310-385-0567. We can help.

There are no guarantees on the outcomes of any medical procedures. A doctor may make a mistake during surgery, which can result in a poor outcome. The doctor may do everything correctly and the body may not respond appropriately during surgery, resulting in a poor outcome.

During most surgical procedures involving anesthesia, the patient’s physiological status is monitored. The types of monitoring change, depending on the type of surgery. It’s very common for respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and oxygen level to be monitored during surgery. In addition, during some more complex surgeries involving the nervous system, the medical team may monitor the body’s nervous system. This is done using electrodes, and can help prevent neurologic injury during surgery by providing feedback to the surgeon in real time.

If you are concerned about monitoring and how it will affect your surgery, you should talk to your medical team. Surgeries are safer today than ever before, and if you have an experienced team there’s no reason to believe your surgery will go poorly.

If your surgery does turn out badly, you may wish to speak to an attorney. It’s possible that the poor outcome was through no fault of your medical providers. However, it’s also possible that negligence occurred during the surgical procedure, in which case you may have a cause of action against the doctors and/or the medical facility. Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567. We can help if you have been injured through the negligence of a medical provider. Call today to learn more or to schedule your free consultation.

Spinal surgery can be dangerous and unpredictable. Spinal surgery involves cutting areas near the spinal cord and the nerves. Intraoperative neuromonitoring allows the surgeon to know, in real time, if nerve tissue is being injured or may be injured.

In many spinal surgeries, spinal surgeons are placing hardware into the body, such as screws, rods, and plates. If the hardware is incorrectly placed, the spinal cord and nerve roots could be damaged. In years past, surgeons relied on imaging tools such as X-rays and CT scans to check to see if the hardware was correctly placed during surgery. However, those tools are not always completely accurate in showing damage to nerve tissue or improperly placed hardware.

Intraoperative neuromonitoring is more effective than X-rays or CT scans in sensing neurological damage during surgery. In addition, intraoperative neuromonitoring is quick, easy, and inexpensive. It also provides feedback to the surgeon in real time, and can help reduce damage to nerve tissue during surgery.

However, intraoperative neuromonitoring is a medical procedure, and with any medical procedure there is the risk of something going wrong. In the case of neuromonitoring, the risk is generally not that there will be serious complications from the monitoring, but instead that the monitoring will be done incorrectly, and that there will be complications from the surgical procedure.

If you have been harmed during surgery that was being monitored using intraoperative neuromonitoring, call me, Conal Doyle, intraoperative neuromonitoring attorney at 310-385-0567. My team can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.