Editor Choice: Importance of PbtO2 Probe Location

Background: Monitoring brain tissue PO₂ (PbtO₂) is part of multimodality monitoring of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, PbtO₂ measurement is a sampling of only a small area of tissue surrounding the sensor tip.

Objective: To examine the effect of catheter location on the relationship between PbtO₂and neurological outcome.

Methods: A total of 405 patients who had PbtO₂ monitoring as part of standard management of severe traumatic brain injury were studied. The relationships between probe location and resulting PbtO₂ and outcome were examined.