Comparison between continuous brain tissue pO2, pCO2, pH, and temperature and simultaneous cerebrovenous measurement using a multisensor probe in a porcine intracranial pressure model.

Local brain tissue oxygenation (p(ti)O2) and global cerebrovenous hemoglobin saturation (SjO2) are increasingly used to continuously monitor patients after severe head injury (SHI). In patients, simultaneous local and global oxygen measurements of these types have shown different results regarding the comparability of the findings during changes in CPP and ICP. This is in contrast to theoretical expectations. The aim of this study was to compare p(ti)O2 measurement with cerebrovenous oxygen partial pressure measurement (p(cv)O2) in an animal intracranial pressure model. To this end, a multisensor probe was placed in the left frontoparietal white matter to measure p(ti)O2, pCO2 (p(ti)CO2), pH (pH[ti]), and temperature (t[ti]) while simultaneously measuring these same parameters (p(cv)O2, p(cv)CO2 pH(cv), t[cv]) in the sagittal sinus of 9 pigs under general anesthesia. By stepwise inflating a balloon catheter, placed in supracerebellar infratentorial compartment, ICP was increased and CPP was decreased. The baseline levels of p(ti)O2, p(ti)CO2, and pH(ti) in the noninjured brain tissue showed more heterogeneity compared to the findings in cerebrovenous blood. Both, p(ti)O2 and p(cv)O2 were significantly correlated to the induced CPP decrease. PCO2 was inversely correlated to the course of CPP in both measurement compartments. Temperature measurement showed a positive correlation with CPP in both compartments. These findings demonstrate that brain tissue oximetry and cerebrovenous PO2 measurement are sensitive to CPP changes. The newly available continuous parameters in multisensor probes could be helpful in interpreting findings of cerebral oxygen measurement in man by analyzing the interrelationship of these parameters.