title: Noninvasive measurement of intracranial pressure: is it possible?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Some publications suggest a strong correlation between the intracranial pressure and the intraocular pressure. Other studies claim no correlation between these two physiologic variables. Our aim was to study whether the tonometry could be a useful method to evaluate intracranial pressure in patients with suspected intracranial abnormality.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the correlation between the intracranial pressure and the intraocular pressure, the intracranial pressure and the mean arterial pressure, and the intraocular pressure and the mean arterial pressure in 22 patients, initially comatose, who were admitted to our hospital. All patients required the intracranial pressure monitoring on clinical grounds. Simultaneous measurements were performed and recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We calculated both the linear correlation coefficient and the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient. We found significant correlation between the intraocular pressure and the mean arterial pressure in 12 patients; however, significant correlation between the intraocular pressure and the intracranial pressure was found in only 2 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tonometry is not an appropriate method for the assessment of intracranial pressure increases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Regional Medical Center, Opole, Poland. antocz@mp.pl
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Czarnik
authors.forename: Ryszard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gawda
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Latka
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kolodziej
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sznajd-Weron
authors.forename: Rafal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weron
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular