Brain death and intraocular pressure.

The authors report on the behavior of the intraocular pressure of 20 patients who had sustained severe head injury. The 8 patients who retained normal intraocular pressure all survived. The 12 patients who developed intraocular hypotony all suffered brain death. Although optic disc edema was not noted in any brain-dead patients, we did find signs of fundus ischemia in most.