ICP monitoring takes the following into consideration: accuracy, the equipment required, risk of infection, duration of monitoring and skill of staff using the method. Many critical care areas do not routinely use ICP monitoring because of the lack of skilled personnel to insert the device or the ability to interpret the significance of findings.
ICP may be measured via catheters using fluidfilled systems or fibre-optic devices. Infection risk is higher with fluid-filled systems but fibre-optic systems cannot be recalibrated once in place, and ‘drift’ occurs after 4–5 days