Monitoring intraventricular pressure using an implanted reservoir in head injured patients.

Intracranial pressure monitoring facilitates the management of patients with severe craniocerebral trauma. The advantages of monitoring from the intraventricular space are outweighed by the increased incidence of infections with this technique. A system using an implanted Rickham reservoir attached to an intraventricular catheter with exchangeable external connections has been used successfully for monitoring intracranial pressure in 34 of 35 consecutive head-injured patients, with one minor infection.