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On certain occasions, Intracranial Pressure (ICP) must be monitored and, according to the Principles of Neurological Surgery, one of the ways this is done is by placing an Intraventricular Catheter in one of the lateral ventricles of the brain.

Drilling into the skull is unavoidable, but, in order to reach the lateral ventricles, the catheter must advance through the brain parenchyma. I expect that this piercing process causes direct damage, by virtue of drilling a (very thin) hole. As a result, I have two straightforward questions:

  1. Doesn't this damage have any significant consequences on overall brain function (or am I missing some "safe path" to the ventricles)?
  2. Is there any special "area" picked to "travel through" to the ventricles, so that the areas to be "pierced" are not "too" significant for overall brain function?

I am pretty sure that this question is not what I am asking for, because that one simply addresses getting to the soft tissue itself. My question goes beyond the soft tissue, "reaching" deep into the ventricles.

ForeverNoob
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1 Answers1

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  1. Insertion will cause local damage. The more carefully you look, the more there can be to find - small volume bleeding is more common than larger bleeds, and symptomatic injuries are even more unusual. Significant functional impairment is possible and has been reported, but is not the usual result.

  2. The aim is to avoid the most critical areas, including the venous sinuses (risk of critical bleeding) and the primary motor cortex. Given the choice, the right side is preferred as the left hemisphere is usually dominant for language, so damage is less likely to leave a functional impairment.

Michael
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