Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery
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Comparative Study
Intracranial pressure monitoring in children: comparison of external ventricular device with the fiberoptic system.
Several intracranial pressure monitoring devices have been developed in the past several years. We have recently adopted the Camino fiberoptic device that permits subdural, intraparenchymal, and intraventricular monitoring. In this report we compare experiences in monitoring a group of pediatric patients with severe craniocerebral trauma and coma, grouped according to severity of Glasgow Coma Scale score. ⋯ The study demonstrated that the fiberoptic device and the ventricular catheter have the same accuracy and reliability. The fiberoptic method correlates very closely with the ventriculostomy method, but the pressure values are always 3 +/- 2 mmHg lower than those obtained with the conventional pressure transducer system, especially in more critically ill patients. This new technique is also easier to implant, safer to use, has minimal drift, and is minimally invasive, which particularly speaks for its use in pediatric patients.