A comparison of intraparenchymatous and intraventricular pressure recording in clinical practice.

A comparison of intraventricular pressure (IVP) and intraparenchymatous pressure was performed in 11 patients with severe traumatic brain lesions. Intraparenchymatous pressure was measured with a Honeywell microtransducer placed intracerebrally. Before the microtransducer was used in clinical practice, basic data on drift and temperature sensitivity were tested in experiments in vitro. Under clinical conditions the correspondence between the measured IVP and intraparenchymatous pressures appeared to be better than previously reported for different devices for epidural or subdural pressure recording. It is concluded that intraparenchymatous pressure monitoring is reliable in clinical practice and that such measurements are valuable in patients with compressed and/or distorted ventricles that preclude possibilities for IVP recording.