Fontanelle pressure monitoring in infants with the Rotterdam Teletransducer: a reliable technique.

Intracranial Pressure (ICP) monitoring is important in patients at risk for raised ICP. In infants non-invasive methods for measuring ICP are to be preferred, and hence Anterior Fontanelle Pressure (AFP) measurements have been employed. So far, techniques used were not reliable since application of a transducer to the fontanelle generally influences the recorded pressure value. For the purpose of non-ambiguous ICP recording the Rotterdam Teletransducer was fitted in a special light weight skill adaptor, provided with a special fixation frame. With this adaptor the transducer can be set and maintained at accurate depth in the fontanelle according to the pressure depth curve. The plateau in the pressure depth curve represents actual ICP. The development of this reliable and reproducible technique is discussed. The results of instantaneous and continuous monitoring of AFP in 70 children with- and without neurological diseases are presented.