Optic nerve sheath diameter measurement for predicting raised intracranial pressure in pediatric patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectives: No previous studies have investigated the relationship between the optic nerve sheath diameter and raised intracranial pressure in pediatric patients or have evaluated the usefulness of optic nerve sheath diameter in ocular ultrasound and brain computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging. This study aimed to meta-analyze the diagnostic performance of optic nerve sheath diameter for the diagnosis of raised intracranial pressure in pediatric patients. Methods: A database search of PubMed and EMBASE was performed to identify relevant studies. Bivariate modeling and hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristics modeling were performed to evaluate diagnostic performance. A pooled diagnostic odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval, not including 1, was considered informative. Subgroup analysis was performed according to the modality (ocular ultrasound vs brain computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging). We performed meta-regression analyses for heterogeneity exploration. Results: Eleven studies involving 546 patients were included. According to pooled diagnostic odds ratios, optic nerve sheath diameter was informative for the evaluation of raised intracranial pressure (diagnostic odds ratio, 47; 95% confidence interval, 11–206). Optic nerve sheath diameter showed a pooled sensitivity of 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 0.79–0.94), a pooled specificity of 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.70–0.95), and an area under the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.93 (95% confidence interval, 0.91–0.95) for the diagnosis of raised intracranial pressure. According to the subgroup analysis, ocular ultrasound (sensitivity, 0.91 (95% confidence interval, 0.81–0.96); specificity, 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.65–0.96)) showed higher sensitivity and comparable specificity than optic nerve sheath diameter measured on brain computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (sensitivity, 0.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.51–0.99); specificity, 0.91 (95% confidence interval, 0.74–1.00)). On meta-regression analysis, the study design, number of patients, and reference standard were the sources of heterogeneity. Conclusion: Optic nerve sheath diameter may be a useful method for predicting raised intracranial pressure in pediatric patients. We recommend that the measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter should be performed using ocular ultrasound for a more accurate diagnosis of raised intracranial pressure in pediatric patients.