How to determine intracranial pressure

Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the force with which intracranial fluid presses on the brain tissue. Norm ICP – 100-150 mm of water column.

On what grounds do you suspect him a raise?

For signs of increased intracranial pressure many do not pay attention or do not give them value. It can be dizziness, a slight headache in the morning, blurred vision, nausea, drowsiness, sweating, low pulse. Increased intracranial pressure may indicate a severe affection of brain tissue structures (tumor, hydrocephalus, hematoma), so you should not ignore these seemingly familiar and insignificant symptoms. Many people know how to measure blood pressure at home, but how to measure intracranial pressure, most cannot even imagine. Immediately I must say that at home it can be done.

1. The patient's eyes for pupil dilation bury a special solution to number one or two drops. It may be 1 % homatropine or 0.25% solution of scopolamine.
2. Using a special magnifying glass, and mirrors conduct examination of the fundus at a certain distance in a darkened room. For the study can be used Ophthalmoscope, it is possible to approach as close as possible to the eye, it does not require any additional funds.
3. In the study manually the doctor sits opposite the patient at a distance of about half a meter and in front of his right eye is a mirror. Behind and to the left of the patient is set frosted electric lamp, the capacity of which is from 60 to 100 watts. The doctor puts the magnifier in the 13 diopters at a distance of 8 cm from the patient's eye. The pupil of the doctor, the center of the magnifier and the hole in the mirror should be on one line.
4. The doctor evaluates the condition of the vessels of the fundus and disc optic nerve. About high blood pressure indicate changes of colors, the fabric, color and contour of the disk, as well as the tortuosity and rasshirennoi vessels.

Upon detection of such changes, the optometrist refers the patient to a neurologist who diagnosed continues to increase of intracranial pressure using MRI, duplex scanning of the brachiocephalic arteries, reoentsefalografii.

MRI is only for people whose weight exceeds 150 kg, and the body which has no metal objects (such as bullets, pacemakers, pins, etc.). The patient is placed on the sliding table and placed in the capsule. You need to remove all jewelry and watches removed magnetic cards and phones. Clothing must be free of metallic elements (buttons, buckles, etc.). At the head of a patient wearing a special helmet around the head are coils which receive the radio waves. The procedure lasts about 40 minutes.

About a 10 minute drive duplex scanning of the vertebral and carotid arteries. During this examination, the doctorevaluates the blood flow rate and vascular condition.

If reoentsefalografii record the changes of the resistance of the tissues of the skull and brain when they are weak high-frequency current. The procedure is in the room with the lights off. The patient sits on a chair, his head fixed wire, it sent pulses of light. Periodic current oscillations that appear in the beat pulsations appear in the form of a graph of the pulse fluctuations in the electrical resistance.