Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (IONM) is not currently considered a standard of care for cardiovascular surgery. This course will demonstrate compelling evidence that patients who are at elevated risk for stroke can benefit from IONM during cardiovascular procedures.

Implementing IONM for at-risk patients requires collaboration and communication between multiple healthcare professionals including (but not limited to) the surgical team, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, neurologists, stroke interventionalists, intensivists, and PM&R physicians. Systems need to be put in place for identifying at-risk patients, developing techniques to avoid intraoperative stroke, identifying intraoperative stroke, planning for treatment of intraoperative stroke, and postoperatively managing patients who have experienced intraoperative stroke.