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65th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May 2014, Dresden

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Clinical and radiological findings in long-term intracranial pressure monitoring

Meeting Abstract

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  • Sebastian Antes - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Christoph A. Tschan - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Gerd Kunze - Raumedic AG, Helmbrechts
  • Lara Ewert - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Anna Zimmer - Klinik für Diagnostische und Interventionelle Neuroradiologie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Alexander Halfmann - Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Joachim Oertel - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 65. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Dresden, 11.-14.05.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. DocDI.06.05

doi: 10.3205/14dgnc146, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgnc1460

Published: May 13, 2014

© 2014 Antes et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Objective: Advantages of telemetric devices for long-term ICP measurement have been mentioned several times in the literature. However, descriptions of associated complications are lacking. Therefore, this observational study focuses on clinical and radiological findings after the insertion of an intraparenchymal telemetric ICP monitor.

Method: Between April 2010 and February 2013, 185 telemetric ICP catheters were implanted for diagnostic purposes. All patients were clinically followed. Radiological, microbiological and clinical data were analyzed.

Results: One brain abscess (0.5%) and two cutaneous infections (1.1%) occurred in 185 patients. Staphylococcus spp. could be detected in all cases. Six patients (3.2%) suffered from single new-onset seizures and one patient (0.5%) from a temporary hemiparesis. Intracerebral hemorrhages occurred in 15.6%, most of the time as small punctate bleedings. Perifocal edematous reactions surrounding inserted telemetric catheters could be observed in 46.9%. Multiple imaging studies indicated that there is complete edema resolution over time.

Conclusions: Infectious as well as hemorrhagic complication rates are comparable to the common literature. The long-term implantation of an intracranial pressure probe does not seem to increase the risk of wound infections or brain abscess formation. Surprisingly, very high numbers of edematous reactions after insertion of the intraparenchymal ICP monitor were seen. Reasons for this can only be speculated about.