Brain tissue oxygen monitoring in traumatic brain injury: part I—To what extent does PbtO2 reflect global cerebral physiology?

Abstract

PbtO₂ below 20 mmHg was relatively frequent and often occurred in the absence of disturbances in ICP, PRx, CPP, and ∆CPPopt. There were significant, but weak associations between the global cerebral physiological variables and pbtO₂, suggesting that hypoxic pbtO₂ is often a complex and independent pathophysiological event. Thus, other variables may be more crucial to explain pbtO₂ and, likewise, pbtO₂ may not be a suitable outcome measure to determine whether global cerebral blood flow optimization such as CPPopt therapy is successful.