The intraocular pressure could not be used to determine the intracranial pressure in patients with hydrocephalus.

PURPOSE: An accurate intracranial pressure (ICP) measurement is vital for patients with hydrocephalus. ICP is generally measured by lumbar puncture opening pressure, which is invasive and has potential adverse side effects. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was investigated to measure ICP indirectly; however, its accuracy was controversial. We conducted this retrospective study to investigate whether IOP can be used as a surrogate for ICP in hydrocephalus patients.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective study enrolled 50 cases, including 32 patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and 18 patients with high pressure hydrocephalus (HPH). The independent factors of ICP, the correlation between ICP and other factors, and diagnostic value of IOP and papilledema to predict ICP were analysed respectively.

RESULTS: Patients with HPH were more likely suffered from visual deterioration (33.33% vs. 9.38%, p = 0.045) and papilledema (55.56% vs. 3.13%, p = 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that papilledema was a significant factor (OR = 40.765, 95% CI 3.331-498.846, p = 0.004). Pearson correlation analysis indicated that ICP did not correlate with any other factors.

CONCLUSIONS: IOP was not an independent factor of ICP in patients with hydrocephalus, and could not be used to determine IOP. Papilledema might be a significant factor of ICP in hydrocephalus sufferers. Compared with NPH patients, patients with HPH were more prone to develop papilledema.