Current Challenges for Creating a Wireless MR-Compatible Intracranial Pressure Monitor

Introduction: In the US, about 60,000 victims of traumatic brain injury (TBI) survive long enough to reach the emergency department (ED). Approximately half of these (30,000) will require careful monitoring of intracranial hypertension [1]. Besides the intracranial pressure (ICP) measurements of TBI patients in the ED, continuous ICP measurements are sometimes essential in terms of managing a patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) or in post-hospital patient care. Many studies have been focused on the accuracy and simplicity of the pressure measurements [2]. Most methods developed today include trans-cranial probes of widely varying geometry constantly being connected to a large external monitoring device. To date, they have not been designed with portability or MR compatibility in mind, although victims of TBI are among those with the greatest need for MRI. Recently, Kawoos et al. [3] developed a self-contained wireless device with a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor that performs the ICP measurement and can communicate results wirelessly, while being approximately the size of some existing trans-cranial probes. Wireless ICP measurement of a patient simplifies the monitoring system and could enable Telemedicine, as well as monitoring in the MR environment [4]. In this study, preliminary test results of MR compatibility (including susceptibility artifacts and temperature changes near the ICP device) in a 3.0T MRI environment are presented.