The Correlation between Intracranial Pressure and Intraocular Pressure after Brain Surgery

Objective: This study was to explore whether the intracranial pressure (ICP) changes and intraocular pressure (IOP) changes are synchronized after brain surgery. We also want to see whether measurement of IOP could be used to monitor ICP. Materials and methods: We evaluated the correlation between intracranial pressure and intraocular pressure in 15 patients with meningioma admitted to our hospital. All patients required the intracranial pressure monitoring on clinical grounds. Intraocular pressures were measured by portable non-contact tonometer. We simultaneous recorded the intracranial pressure and intraocular pressure once a time per hour. Results: We found significant correlation between intraocular pressures and intracranial pressure in 60.0% (9/15) of the tested population. However, ICP and IOP showed significant correlation only in 4 (16.7%) out of 24 time points (P<0.05). Conclusions: Although there is a significant correlation between ICP and IOP in neurosurgical patients, changes in IOP cannot always reflect the dynamic changes in ICP.