Proposal of a System for Intracranial Pressure Telemonitoring

摘要

The Intracranial Hypertension (ICH) is a neurological condition that affects patients with head injury, stroke and hydrocephalus. Currently, the most suitable treatment for this clinical condition requires continuous monitoring of cerebral function by the analysis of clinical parameters associated with cerebral perfusion. In this context, two parameters are relevant for clinical decision: the analysis of the waveform of intracranial pressure and the temperature. Ideally, a neurosurgeon should have access to this information during the whole period of treatment. However, in most cases this is not possible, because of the limited number of available professionals in this area. Possible consequences for this are delays in clinical interventions and the application of misleading procedures that may result in the death of patients or in worse prognostics. This research proposes the development of a system for temperature and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring. It will be developed a computer program that estimates and presents online and continuous relevant information regarding the ICP waveform and intracranial perfusion. This system will contain a remote evaluation module in addition to continuous monitoring at bedside, allowing the provision of periodic information about the evolution of the parameters of ICP, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and intracranial temperature (ICT) via software application available in the mobile phone of the specialist. The software will be validated with synthetic and experimental data. Furthermore, it will be employed in a clinical study with 50 patients in order to compare the performance of two distinct types of equipment commonly used in the monitoring of the ICP. The results of this study will contribute to the improvement of current ICP monitoring systems, which may contribute to the reduction in morbidity and mortality of neurocritical patients.