Sensory Evoked Potentials
Opioids do not appreciably alter sensory evoked potentials (SEPs)
elicited at the posterior tibial or median nerve.[81]
[82]
[83]
[84]
Therefore, SEP monitoring can be used for spinal cord function monitoring during
anesthesia using opioids. Although opioids do not interfere with SEP interpretation,
they do inhibit both the velocity and the amplitude of nerve action potential transmission.
[85]
Brainstem auditory evoked potentials are also minimally altered
by analgesic doses of morphine, fentanyl or sufentanil.[86]
[87]
Remifentanil produced dose-dependent reduction
in auditory evoked potentials.[88]
Visual evoked
potentials during thiopental-fentanyl-N2
O anesthesia show transiently
decreased amplitudes and modest but persistent increases in latencies.[89]
