BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the effects of internal jugular vein (IJV) catheterization on intracranial pressure (ICP) and postoperative delirium (POD) during robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery by measuring the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD).MethodsData from a prospective single-center cohort study, conducted from October 2021 to February 2022, were used. Forty out of 80 patients scheduled for laparoscopic radical hysterectomy or prostatectomy were assigned to the group receiving IJV catheterization (Group I), and the other 40 only received peripheral venous cannulation (Group C) according to clinical need of patients. Ultrasonography of ONSDs, the proportion of regurgitation time in a cardiac cycle, and hemodynamic parameters were measured at four time points: immediately after induction of anesthesia in the supine position (T0), 30 min (T1), 60 min (T2) after orienting to the Trendelenburg position, and before returning to the supine position at the end of surgery (T3). Time to eye opening and emergence stay, POD, and QoR-15 were compared.ResultsThe ONSDs increase gradually as the surgery progressed. Group I showed a higher value of ONSD at T1 (4.72 ± 0.29 mm vs. 4.5 ± 0.33 mm,p= 0.0057) and T3 (5.65 ± 0.33 mm vs. 5.26 ± 0.31 mm,p< 0.0001). The proportions of the regurgitation time of IJVV were greater in Group I than those in Group C at T1 (14.95, 8.5%–18.9% vs. 9.6%, 0%–17.2%,p< 0.0001) and T3 (14.3, 10.6%–18.5% vs. 10.4%, 0%–16.5%,p= 0.0003). Group I had a delayed time to eye opening (10.7 ± 1.72 min vs. 13.3 ± 2.35 min,p< 0.0001) and emergence stay (32.2 ± 5.62 min vs. 39.9 ± 6.7 min,p< 0.0001). There were no significant differences in POD and QoR-15 between the two groups on day three.ConclusionIJV cannulation may not be the preferred approach in robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery as it was risk factor for IJVV regurgitation, ICP elevation, emergence delayed.