Noninvasive measurement of intracranial pressure: is it possible?
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.
Czarnik
Tomasz
T
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Regional Medical Center, Opole, Poland. antocz@mp.pl
Gawda
Ryszard
R
Latka
Dariusz
D
Kolodziej
Waldemar
W
Sznajd-Weron
Katarzyna
K
Weron
Rafal
R
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