Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Apr 2017
The effects of ventricular drainage on the intracranial pressure signal and the pressure reactivity index.
In subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients intracranial pressure (ICP) is usually monitored via an extraventricular drain (EVD), which can produce false readings when the drain is open. It is established that both the ICP cardiac pulse frequency and long term trends over several hours are often seriously corrupted. The aim of this study was to establish whether or not the intermediate frequency bands [respiratory, Mayer wave and very low frequency (VLF)] were also corrupted. ⋯ We found a small but statistically significant decrease during open-drain periods. Based on analysis of the change in the PRx distribution during open drainage we concluded that this decrease also represented physiological changes rather than artifact. In summary the ICP respiratory, Mayer wave, and VLF frequency bands are not corrupted when the EVD is open, and it safe to use these for autoregulation studies.