To explore the feasibility and safety of real-time intracranial pressure(ICP) monitoring through the external ventricular drainage catheter.

Twenty-eight patients admitted to neurosurgery department in our hospital from January 2016 to June 2018 were enrolled in this study. The cerebro-spinal fluid conduction pressure (P1) was measured by a pressure sensor connected with the external ventricular drainage catheter, and the ICP data was measured by the invasive sensor at the same time. The real-time data of P1 and the ICP in the same period were collected by acquisition software system every minute. Then the data were collected continuously for 30 min in each section for analysis. The consistency of P1 and the ICP were analyzed and compared. The clinical characteristics, the incidence of intracranial infection, superficial surgical incision infection and intracranial rebleeding were analyzed.

Twenty-eight patients were simultaneously monitored by pressure sensor connected with external ventricular drainage catheter and invasive ICP sensor. Eighty-seven section data and 2610 pairs of pressure values were obtained. The mean value of ICP was (14.217±6.729) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), while the mean value of P1 was (14.263±6.765) mmHg. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between P1 and ICP was 0.977 (P<0.001), suggesting high consistency of two groups of data. The difference between P1 and ICP was (0.046±1.435) mmHg (95%CI: -2.767-2.859). There were no operation-related intracranial infection, poor healing and incision infection, intracranial rebleeding between two data groups.

The pressure monitoring through external ventricular drainage catheter is highly consistent with invasive ICP sensor, with high accuracy and safety. This method may be used as an effective technique for continuous ICP monitoring.