Intraoperative NIM-2™ Monitoring for Facial Nerve Preservation in Acoustic Neurinoma Surgery

Since the early 1980s intraoperative monitoring of the facial nerve during CPA (cerebellopontine angle) tumor operations has been routinely used in the United States. In several European countries the value of this tool is still questioned. The intraoperative stimulation of the facial nerve was described as early as 1898 [1]. A highly sophisticated and clinically reliable technology has since then developed [2–4]. Today it is possible to identify the facial nerve and obtain data about its neural integrity during and at the end of the surgical procedure. An EMG-based system with quantitative measuring of compound muscle action potentials has been used in our department since 1991.