Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of intracranial pressure monitoring in ventricular puncture for patients with posttraumatic diffuse brain swelling under guidance of real-time intraoperative ultrasound. Methods Sixty-seven patients with posttraumatic diffuse brain swelling, admitted to and accepted intracranial pressure monitoring in ventricular puncture under real-time intraoperative ultrasound in our hospital from January 2015 to December 2017, were chosen as experimental group; and other 71 patients with posttraumatic diffuse brain swelling, admitted to and accepted traditional intracranial pressure monitoring in ventricular puncture in our hospital from January 2012 to June 2014, were chosen as control group. The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed, and the success rate of primary puncture and complications were compared between the two groups. Results The success rate of primary puncture in the experimental group was 100％ (67/67), and that in the control group was 77.5％ (55/71), with significant difference (P<0.05). No catheter-related infection was noted in either group. Only one patient in study group had puncture tract bleeding, while 9 patients in the control group had puncture tract bleeding; abnormal puncture location was noted in 8 patients of the control group, including 5 failing to be punctured in the ventricle, one puncturing to the contralateral ventricle, and two having excessive puncture depth; occurrence of postoperative complications in study group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Real-time intraoperative ultrasound-guided puncture ventricle drainage is superior to conventional bind-puncture in traumatic patients with diffuse brain swelling, and can be widely used in clinical practice.