Intracranial pressure monitoring

The monitoring of intracranial pressure is used in treating severe traumatic brain injury patients. This process is called intracranial pressure monitoring. All current clinical available measurement methods are invasive and use various transducer systems (most used is the insertion of a catheter into the cranium). Some non-invasive intracranial pressure measurement methods are currently being studied; these would facilitate diagnostics of traumatic brain injury or other causes of intracranial hypertension without the risks associated with invasive modalities.

Pressure reactivity index is a means of analyzing changes in intracranial pressure with relation to blood pressure, and os probably superior in assessing harmful raised intracranial pressure than a pressure readout alone.

When the brain suffers severe trauma it begins to swell inside the skull. Due to the Monro-Kellie doctrine, as the brain swells intracranial pressure (ICP) rises and cerebral perfusion decreases. If the brain swelling goes undetected and is not treated the brain becomes deprived of oxygen-rich blood. This secondary injury can cause permanent brain damage. Invasive ICP monitoring allows doctors to determine how much swelling the brain has sustained, and enables cerebrospinal fluid to be drained accordingly in order to prevent oxygen deprivation.[1]

In the United States surveys conducted in 1995, 2000 and 2006 have shown that since 1995 (the year the TBI Guidelines were published) ICP Monitoring rose from 32% to 78% in 2005.[2][3][4]