Raised intracranial pressure (ICP) is a common problem in neurosurgical and neurological practice. It can arise as a consequence of intracranial mass lesions, disorders of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation, and more diffuse intracranial pathological processes. Its development may be acute or chronic. There are well established methods for the measurement, continuous monitoring, and treatmen...

Background: Following endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV), the intracranial pressure (ICP) of some patients remains high immediately. The cause of this phenomenon is still controversial. The objective of this study is to explore the effect of postoperative lumbar puncture following ETV for obstructive hydrocephalus patients. Methods: 145 patients presenting with obstructive hydrocephalus und...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The review touches upon the current physiopathological concepts relating to the field of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring and offers an up-to-date overview of the ICP monitoring technologies and of the signal-analysis techniques relevant to clinical practice. RECENT FINDINGS Improved ICP probes, antibiotic-impregnated ventricular catheters and multimodality, computeriz...

OBJECT Deepening sedation is often needed in patients with intracranial hypertension. All widely used sedative and anesthetic agents (opioids, benzodiazepines, propofol, and barbiturates) decrease blood pressure and may therefore decrease cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). Ketamine is a potent, safe, rapid-onset anesthetic agent that does not decrease blood pressure. However, ketamine's use in ...

The relationships among cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, intracranial pressure (ICP), and the action of cerebrovascular regulatory mechanisms (autoregulation and CO2 reactivity) were investigated by means of a mathematical model. The model incorporates the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation, the intracranial pressure-volume relationship, and cerebral hemodynamics. The latter is ba...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death for children and young adults in the U.S. Current therapy is targeted towards treating hypertension in ICP after they occur. We investigated the change in the signal characteristics of three simultaneously recorded signals before and after an acute episode of intracranial hypertension. In this paper, we report statistical evidence of ch...

The present study was designed to determine whether cerebrovascular autoregulation is intact in experimental meningitis and to examine the relationship between fluctuations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and increased intracranial pressure (ICP). Measurements of CBF were determined by the radionuclide microsphere technique in rabbits with experimental Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis with simu...

I ncreased pressure within the cranial cavity is a common and important problem in the care of patients with serious injuries and diseases of the central nervous system. Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is most commonly associated with severe head injury; some degree of increased ICP was found in 80 percent of all patients with a major head injury and in over one half of these patients the ...

The authors correlated the computed tomographic (CT) findings and intracranial pressure (ICP) in 150 consecutive comatose head injury patients to determine if noninvasive CT can help identify the patients not requiring ICP monitoring. The study reveals that a majority of patients (55%) with hemorrhagic lesions shown by CT suffer from intracranial hypertension and require ICP monitoring for prop...

OBJECTIVE To determine adherence to Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines for intracranial pressure monitoring after severe traumatic brain injury, to investigate if characteristics of patients treated according to guidelines (ICP+) differ from those who were not (ICP-), and whether guideline compliance is related to 6-month outcome. DESIGN Observational multicenter study. PATIENTS Consecutive...