[Non-invasive determination of intracranial pressure. Physiological basis and practical procedure]

It has been shown in some recently published papers that the intracranial pressure can be determined by dynamometric measurement of the outflow pressure of the central retinal vein (VOP). The knowledge gained by the basic experiments of Baurmann in 1925 has been forgotten by the ophthalmic community for many years. In this paper the basic phenomena of venous collapse are outlined which are fundamentally different from the biomechanics of the arterial collapse phenomenon observed by ophthalmodynamometry. A practical guideline is given for the dynamometric measurement of venous outflow pressure which equals the intracranial pressure. Performing dynamometry of the central retinal vein enables the ophthalmologist to determine intracranial pressure in a non-invasive way.