Study and development of a portable telemetric intracranial pressure measurement unit

The measurement of intracranial pressure has become very popular, largely due to the increase in available microsystem components. This article shows how a fully implantable stand-by device for measuring intracranial pressure and temperature under normal conditions can be implemented, consisting of a sensor element combined with a transcutaneous telemetric interface. One of the main points is automatic event recognition, used as a switch between the sampling rates in order to capture special signal components in an emergency situation. Therefore, signal processing and waveform analysis is exigent, first to control the measured signal online on the portable unit, and second to process the data offline on the stationary unit. In relation to other medical fields, the neurosurgical market may be small, but this new measuring system is of great benefit for patients with, for example, chronic hydrocephalus, and could also be implemented in fields where disposable telemetric sensors are needed.