Transocular Doppler and optic nerve sheath diameter monitoring to detect intracranial hypertension

BACKGROUND: Increases in intracranial pressure (ICP) require a rapid recognition to allow for adequate treatments. The aim of this study was to determine whether transocular Doppler and optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) monitoring could reliably identify increases in ICP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional case-control study, which was carried out on 2013. Subjects were chosen from patients who admitted to the neurology and neurosurgery departments and the intensive care unit of Alzahra Hospital (Isfahan, Iran). To measure the ICP, the authors used ultrasound to measure the diameter of the optic nerve sheath and transocular Doppler (TOD) to measure blood flew velocity in ophthalmic artery (OA) and ophthalmic vein (OV) in both groups. RESULTS: The mean of ONSD was 4.8 mm (SD 0.77) in patients with raised ICP and 3.2 mm (SD 0.3) in healthy volunteers which was significant (P < 0.001). The mean (SD) of TOD parameters were also significantly more in OA and OV of patients with raised ICP. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound methods has been proposed as an alternative safe technique for invasive ICP measuring methods.