Patent ID: 8652140

Claim:
A surgical method, comprising: providing a handle portion incorporating an operating system; connecting a tool portion to the handle portion, wherein the tool portion includes an insulated shaft and non-insulated tip, and wherein the handle portion is configured to electrically insulate a user of the tool portion from an electrical signal induced at the tip; wherein the operating system is operable to rotate the tool portion about a longitudinal axis thereof; operably connecting a nerve monitoring system to the tool portion; providing an electrical signal to the tip and into a patient; rotating the tool portion relative to bone tissue of the patient; detecting a neural element threshold of a neural element of the patient as a function of the electrical signal, wherein the detecting is performed by the nerve monitoring system; the detection based on at least one of: monitoring a muscle reaction of the patient to the electrical signal interacting with a nerve; and a detected increase in electrical current flowing through the tip; stopping rotation of the tool portion upon detection of the neural element threshold to protect the neural element of the patient; wherein the stopping rotation is a result of a signal sent to the operating system in the handle portion from the nerve monitoring system.