I am not a doctor. If you have questions about your surgery, and how it will affect your pregnancy, you should speak with your surgeon and your obstetrician about your concerns.
Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) involves hooking electrodes to the body which monitor how the body responds during surgery. Normally, IONM is performed during delicate surgeries involving the brain, spinal cord, and nervous system. IONM can help prevent any damage from occurring to the body before it happens.
There have been no long-term studies on the effects of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring on pregnancy. However, there have been reports of doctors successfully monitoring surgeries using IONM on pregnant patients. Typically, most doctors try to put off surgery while a patient is pregnant, so if a patient is undergoing surgery while pregnant, it’s likely a critical surgery for which IONM can help produce a positive result.
If you are pregnant and you need surgery, and your doctor has discussed IONM with you, you should consider all of your options and maybe seek out a second opinion. IONM is beneficial in the vast majority of cases. In some rare situations, it does go wrong. When that happens, it is not being properly performed, and patients can be harmed as a result.
If you have been harmed during a surgery that was monitored by IONM, call me, Conal Doyle, IONM malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. My team can help. I have experience in IONM malpractice cases, and will provide you with a free consultation on your case. Call to learn more.