Significance of the ventricular fluid pressure wave form in the diagnosis of cerebral circulatory arrest and brain death.

The fluctuations in the absolute value of the ventricular fluid pressure (VFP) with simultaneous changes in the amplitude and frequency of the oscillations of the ventricular fluid wave form are described in seven patients who developed brain death following either a head injury or a cerebrovascular accident, and are compared with those observed in nineteen patients who survived similar brain pathology. The findings in the two groups were significantly different. It is suggested that VFP monitoring does provide reliable evidence of brain death even while the patient is on artificial respiration.