Pediatric Multimodal Neuromonitoring

The first injury takes seconds.
The second injury takes hours.

A free, evidence-anchored source in pediatric multimodal neuromonitoring, for PICU fellows, intensivists, and trainees.

Five signal streams, pressure, flow, oxygen, metabolism, and electrical activity, read on the same patient and interpreted together, to catch the secondary-injury cascade the bedside exam misses.

Five pediatric neuromonitoring channelsFive monitoring channels labeled around a rotating 3D brain: ICP, NIRS, cEEG, TCD, and pupillometry.ICP14mmHgNIRS rSO₂72%cEEGTCD MCA80cm/sNPi4.2PRESSURE · FLOW · OXYGEN · METABOLISM · ELECTRICAL

What it is

Five signals. One brain. Real time.

Modern pediatric neurocritical care no longer treats the brain as a single number. Five physiological domains are monitored in parallel, each catches a different mode of secondary injury that the others would miss. No single signal is enough; the clinical question only resolves when the streams are interpreted together. Hover a vertex below to isolate its spoke.

Five monitoring domainsPentagon diagram showing five physiological domains around a central pediatric brain node: pressure, flow, oxygen, metabolism, and electrical activity. Hover a vertex to isolate it.the pediatricbrainPressure6 modalitiesICP · CPP · PRx · CPPoptFlow3 modalitiesTCD · Mx · Direct CBFOxygen4 modalitiesNIRS · PbtO₂ · SjvO₂Metabolism1 modalityMicrodialysisElectrical6 modalitiesEEG · qEEG · aEEG · BIS · NPi · EPs

Pressure

ICP · CPP · PRx · CPPopt

6

Flow

TCD · Mx · Direct CBF

3

Oxygen

NIRS · PbtO₂ · SjvO₂

4

Metabolism

Microdialysis

1

Electrical

EEG · qEEG · aEEG · BIS · NPi · EPs

6

Plus pupillometry, ONSD ultrasound, fontanelle US, brain temperature, and non-invasive ICP estimators, bedside anchors that cross every domain.

See all 27 modalities

Why it matters

Secondary injury is the part we can change.

Primary injury is over before the patient reaches the PICU. The second wave unfolds over the following hours to days: ischemia, edema, seizures, excitotoxicity, spreading depolarization. This is the window monitoring opens.

t = 0 · Primary injury
Hours to days · Secondary cascade
Outcome · Modulated
The initial insult
  • · Trauma / contusion
  • · Hemorrhage
  • · Anoxia / cardiac arrest
  • · Ischemic stroke
  • · Status epilepticus
  • · HIE
Cerebral ischemiaICP / CPP / PRxNIRS / PbtO₂
Cytotoxic edemaICP / RAPPupillometry
Non-convulsive seizurescEEG / qEEG / aEEG
Autoregulation failurePRx / Mx / CPPoptCOx
Excitotoxicity / metabolic crisisMicrodialysisPbtO₂
Spreading depolarizationsECoG (research)
What changes outcome
  • · Time-to-detection
  • · Time-to-treatment
  • · Individualised targets (CPPopt)
  • · Seizure burden reduction
  • · Avoiding secondary hits

KidsBrainIT 2025 shows a dose-response between cumulative ICP > 20 mmHg burden, sub-target CPP, and 6-month GOS, the field's clearest evidence that what we monitor and how we respond changes outcomes.

Start here

How this site works

Four ways in. New to neuromonitoring? Start with the foundations. Here for one monitor or one case? Go straight there, or search the whole site.

Search modalities, foundations, and casesSearch

Try it live

This is the CPPopt optimiser. Drag through four hours of data and watch the autoregulation U-curve form; its vertex is the patient's individualised CPP target.

CPPoptUCurve
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When monitors disagree

18 worked clinical cases.

These are examples that the monitors are read together, not in isolation. Each case walks a scenario where two or three modalities tell different stories, and shows how to resolve it at the bedside.

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