| abstract |
Apparatus and method are disclosed for monitoring the sensory system of a patient to enable determination of the level and depth of spinal and epidural nerve blocks, including those induced by anesthetics administered to a patient, which blocks affect the sympathetic and motor nervous systems. The anesthesia level is sequentially and repeatedly scanned at a plurality of spaced points to provide a continuous determination of the extent and depth of superficial and deep sensation and sympathetic and motor integrity. The electronic apparatus (11) includes a stimulator (13) that provides selective stimulation to each element of a multiple element transmitting unit (15) the elements of which are non-invasively positioned contiguous to the skin of a patient, and a physiological response detector (25) to detect patent responses to stimulation sensed by the elements of a multiple element sensing unit (27) the elements of which are also non-invasively positioned contiguous to the skin of the patient. A multiple display (33) is provided to facilitate monitoring, and an indication and/or termination of stimulation signal is provided whenever stimulation exceeds a reference level. The system and method are also shown to be usable for automatically controlling delivery of an anesthesic to a patient. |