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CompletedNCT00534157Updated Sep 24, 2007

Study of Eye Pressure as a Predictor of Intracranial Pressure in the Acutely Head-Injured Population

An observational study in Craniocerebral Trauma, sponsored by Ohio State University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2007-09-24.

Sponsored by Ohio State University · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Defined population
Time perspective
Other
Enrollment
37
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine if the pressure in the eye of a severely head-injured person correlates with the pressure in the person's skull. This is a prospective study of patients aged 18 and older who have experienced a traumatic closed head injury and are intubated either before or during the time they are in the Emergency Department (ED). Identified patients have an eye pressure measurement performed in the trauma bay by an OSU ED physician not involved in their care. Information about their hospital stay, including the first brain pressure measurement if a such a measuring device is used, will be collected. In addition, the outcome of their hospital stay will be recorded.

Read the detailed description

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with an estimated 1.5 million American sustaining a TBI and 50,000 people dying from a TBI each year. While the immediate, or primary, injury causes significant damage, secondary injury is caused by cerebral edema, increased intracranial pressure, and resultant hypoperfusion and ischemia. Elevated intracranial pressure is strongly associated with poor recovery and death; failure to control intracranial pressure is likewise associated with poor outcomes and mortality.

Early detection of elevated ICP allows for the initiation of early therapy. However, patients with significant head injuries are often intubated for airway protection. The sedation required for intubation obscures the ED neurologic exam. Precise measurement of elevated ICP has required invasive monitoring via ventriculostomy. Yet this method is only provided at set institutions with neurosurgical services. Further there are distinct time delays between the trauma occurrence, transportation to a facility with neurosurgical services and placement of ventriculostomies. There is at the forefront, then, to establish non-invasive measures of ICP that are both time efficient and reliable.

Previous studies, including a pilot study conducted at this institution, showed a correlation between intraocular and intracranial pressure. However, this relationship has not been tested in an acute care trauma setting. We propose an observational cohort study of critically injured trauma patients with suspected closed head injury. Patients requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation pose a significant challenge to assess neurologically, as they are almost always sedated and often chemically paralyzed to facilitate airway management. Therefore, it is in this population of intubated trauma patients with suspected head injury that we will evaluate the use of tonometry to predict intracranial pressure from intraocular pressure.

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Conditions studied

  • Craniocerebral Trauma

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Keywords

  • intracranial pressure
  • intraocular pressure
  • tonometry
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In context

Craniocerebral Trauma

253 studies on the registry are indexed under Craniocerebral Trauma; 45 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 37 is below the median of 180 across 108 observational studies indexed under Craniocerebral Trauma.

Browse Craniocerebral Trauma studies →

Lead sponsor

Ohio State University is the lead sponsor of 640 studies on the registry; 144 are open to participants now.

Of its 60 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 45 (75%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients with suspected acute traumatic head injury
  • Intubated prior to arrival in the Emergency Department or in the Emergency Department, including patients transferred from other facilities

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Too unstable to allow the investigator access to the head of the bed to perform tonometry.
  • Severe ocular or facial trauma such that an intact globe is not accessible
  • Known history of glaucoma
  • Penetrating head injury
  • Patients that undergo operative decompression prior to the placement of an intracranial pressure monitor may be screened in the trauma bay and have an intraocular pressure obtained; however, these patients will not be included in the intraocular / intracranial pressure analysis.
  • Known allergy to latex or tetracaine
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Study design

Observational model
Defined population
Time perspective
Other
Enrollment
37 participants (actual)
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Study locations

1 site
  • The Ohio State University Medical Center
    Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 24, 2007, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00534157
Lead sponsor
Ohio State University
First posted
Sep 24, 2007
Start date
Jun 2004
Completion
Apr 2007
Last update
Sep 24, 2007

Study contacts

Brian C Hiestand, MD
principal investigator · The Ohio State University Department of Emergency Medicine

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2007. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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