Ultrasonographic measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter for intracranial pressure monitoring

Abstract

Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring is very important in the treatment of severe neurological diseases. At present, there are mainly two methods of ICP monitoring: non-invasive and invasive, each of them has their own advantages. The invasive method is the gold standard, it has significant shortcomings and cannot be widely used. The optic nerve sheath (ONS) has a special anatomical structure. The diameter of the optic nerve sheath increases as intracranial pressure increases. Therefore, ultrasonographic measurement of optic nerve sheath diameterisanon-invasive, simple, feasible and repeatable method to determine the increase of intracranial pressure. This article reviews the progress in clinical researches on ultrasound monitoring of the diameter of optic sheat for the diagnosis of intracranial hypertension. Key words: Intracranial pressure; Elevated intracranial pressure; Ultrasound; Optic nerve sheath diameter