A THERMAL CLEARANCE PROBE FOR CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW

Cortical thermal clearance provides a practical means of continuous as sessment of cerebral blood flow3. A probe which can be used to monitor cerebral cortical thermal clearance is described. It has proved a rel iable method of predicting oligaemia, showing good correlation between measured thermal clearance and the onset of clinical signs of ischaem ia. The limitations are its size, invasiveness, small sample volume an d difficulty with quantification. It is a useful additional tool in th e management of patients suffering from acute neurosurgical disorders.