Extracorporeal Stimulation of Sacral Nerve Roots for Observation of Pelvic Autonomic Nerve Integrity: Description of a Novel Methodological Setup.

Introduction: Neurophysiologic monitoring can improve autonomic nerve sparing during critical phases of rectal cancer surgery. Objectives: To develop a system for extracorporeal stimulation of sacral nerve roots. Methods: Dedicated software controlled a ten-electrode stimulation array by switching between different electrode configurations and current levels. A built-in impedance and current level measurement assessed the effectiveness of current injection. Intra-anal surface electromyography (sEMG) informed on targeting the sacral nerve roots. All tests were performed on five pig specimens. Results: During switching between electrode configurations, the system delivered 100% of the set cur…