Abstract: A monitor-driven intracranial catheter assembly including dual lumen catheter for monitoring intracranial pressure via a pressure sensor located in one lumen while simultaneously draining cerebrospinal fluid through another lumen. A third lumen can also be provided with a side port for receiving a stylet. The stylet is used as a stiffening agent to aid in advancing the catheter into the patient's brain. The pressure sensor is preferably a spectral modulation sensor that communicates with a photodetector apparatus by means of a single optical fiber, thus minimizing the diameter of the catheter. The photodetector is self-correcting for signal errors caused by temperature change, changes in intensity of the input light, and transmission losses within the optical apparatus.

Abstract: A method for inserting and maintaining an intracranial pressure monitoring catheter within a skull of a patient using a flexible catheter having a stylet insertion aperture formed in the side wall thereof opening to a stylet lumen extending to a closed distal end of the catheter. Two incisions are made in the scalp at a spaced distance apart. A bore hole through the patient's skull is then formed beneath a first of the incisions, and the catheter is inserted underneath the scalp from the second incision and out of the first incision until the stylet insertion aperture is exposed. A stylet is then inserted into the stylet insertion aperture and into the stylet lumen to impart stiffness to a distal portion of the catheter. The stylet-containing portion of the catheter is then inserted through the bore hole and advanced such that a pressure sensing/transmitting component on the distal end of the catheter is located intracranially.

Abstract: A catheter assembly for measuring a fluid pressure in a body cavity includes an optical converter responsive to an electrical power source for energizing a light-emitting diode which has drift characteristics which vary in response to temperature. An optical sensor is adapted to receive the light from the light-emitting diode and to provide a measurement signal indicative of the fluid pressure in the cavity. This measurement signal has undesirable characteristics related to the thermal drift characteristics of the diode. A detection circuit detects the measurement signal and provides an output signal indicative of fluid pressure in the cavity. A special filter is included in this detection circuit which has optical characteristics that substantially offset the undesirable characteristics of the measurement signal, so that the output signal is substantially independent of the temperature of the diode.

Abstract: The present invention provides a modular system for mounting one or more medical devices on an IV pole at a patient's bedside. The system comprises a support plate, and at least one modular interconnection receptacle adapted to be detachably mounted on the support plate and adapted to receive a medical device. In one embodiment, the interconnection receptacle has electrical connection means serving as an electrical conduit between the medical device and a monitor. The means for attaching the medical device to the interconnection receptacle has a greater retention force than the means for attaching the interconnection receptacle to the support plate. Thus, in response to a threshold force on the patient line connected to the medical device, the interconnection receptacle breaks free of the support plate while the medical device remains attached to the interconnection receptacle.