The number of surgical procedures across the globe is growing rapidly, since surgical procedures are necessary for managing a number of health conditions, such as obstructed labor, injuries, cardiovascular diseases, infections, and malignancy. Therefore, this component of the healthcare system is indispensable when it comes to the proper functioning of the healthcare sector. It was estimated that about 234,2 million operations were carried out across the world in 2004. The surging prevalence of chronic diseases and rising geriatric population are further leading to a significant growth in the number of surgical procedures.
Ascribed to this growing number of surgeries, the demand for intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) is also increasing rapidly. IONM is not only important for diagnosing an injury but also for salvaging neural tissues at risk before the damage becomes irreversible. The technology is particularly useful in the perioperative period for patients who are at high risk of developing neurological complications due to surgery. In such cases then, IONM is important as it has high response time, high sensitivity and specificity, aids in clarifying physiological targets, provides prognostication for guiding subsequent care, and is able to detect injury early enough to allow therapeutic interventions to take place on time.
Visual evoked potentials, brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), electromyography, electroencephalography, somatosensory evoked potentials, and motor evoked potentials are the different modalities of IONM. Out of these, BAEP is projected to be the most in demand in the coming years as it is utilized for monitoring the vestibulocochlear nerve and brainstem function. It is utilized during posterior surgeries for assessing brainstem and hearing function that can be compromised because of cerebellar retraction, direct mechanical or thermal injury to the vestibulocochlear nerve and brainstem, or vascular injury.
North America emerged as the largest intraoperative neuromonitoring market in the past, which is because of the growing prevalence of neurological disorders, presence of highly sophisticated healthcare infrastructure, high adoption rate of IONM, increasing awareness of patients regarding IONM services, and favourable reimbursement framework for IONM services in the region. Apart from this, the Asia-Pacific region is also expected to create significant demand for IONM in the coming years, owing to technological advancements, and growing medical tourism in the region.
