Summary
A simple, reliable and cheap device for intra-operative monitoring of the facial nerve during surgery for cerebellopontine angle tumours is presented. It consists of a single use tracheostomy tube with a low pressure air inflatable cuff placed in the mouth of the patient on the side of the tumour, connected by a pressure transducer to a monitoring unit. It records any pressure changes in the patient's mouth induced by muscular contractions as a result of excitation of the inferior parts of the facial nerve.
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Mourier, K.L., Raggueneau, J.L., George, B. et al. Intra-operative monitoring of the facial nerve with an air inflated balloon. Acta neurochir 117, 63–65 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01400638
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01400638