Use of cerebral oximetry in early diagnosis of cerebral ischemia in neurosurgical patients with cerebrovascular diseases

: Using a new device, INVOS-3100 cerebral oximeter, the rSO2 parameter (oxygen saturation of blood hemoglobin in cerebral vessels) was monitored during neurosurgical interventions in 84 patients with cerebrovascular diseases (arterial aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and carotid-cavernous anastomoses). Six patients developed grave ischemic complications. In five of them the cerebral oximeter showed a more than 5% reduction of the parameter in question (by 11%, on an average). The findings permit a conclusion that cerebral oximetry is an adequate method of early diagnosis of ischemia in neurosurgical patients with cerebrovascular diseases.