A computerized neurosurgical intensive care system.

A specialized neurosurgical data acquisition and processing system was developed and applied in practice to monitor some 60 patients after head injury or neurosurgical operations. At first the system allowed off-line operation, and the experiences thus gained made it possible to implement the system in its present form for real-time on-line patient monitoring. The algorithms prepared in our laboratory allow rapid and concise presentation of results and have proved their usefulness in clinical practice. The main parameters of interest in neurosurgery are intracranial pressure (ICP) and the volume of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drained from one of the lateral ventricles. Examples of statistical analysis of both these variables, and their presentation in the form of tables, diagrams and histograms are given.