Neurocritical Care

BACKGROUND: Monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) is crucial in the management of the patient with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). In several institutions ICP and CPP are summarized hourly and entered manually on bedside charts; these data have been used in large observational and interventional trials. However, ICP and CPP may change rapidly and frequently, so data recorded in medical charts might underestimate actual ICP and CPP shifts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of manual data annotation for proper capturing of ICP and CPP...

BACKGROUND: The aim was to study the course of body temperature in the acute phase of poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) in relation to the primary brain injury, cerebral physiology, and clinical outcome. METHODS: In this observational study, 166 patients with aSAH treated at the neurosurgery department at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden between 2008 and2018 with temperature, intracranial pressure (ICP), and microdialysis (MD) monitoring were included...

Invasive neuromonitoring has become an important part of pediatric neurocritical care, as neuromonitoring devices provide objective data that can guide patient management in real time. New modalities continue to emerge, allowing clinicians to integrate data that reflect different aspects of cerebral function to optimize patient management. Currently, available common invasive neuromonitoring devices that have been studied in the pediatric population include the intracranial pressure monitor, brain tissue oxygenation monitor, jugular venous oximetry, cerebral microdialysis, and thermal diffusion flowmetry...

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral autoregulation is an essential mechanism for maintaining cerebral blood flow stability. The phenomenon of transtentorial intracranial pressure (ICP) gradient after neurosurgical operations, complicated by edema and intracranial hypertension in the posterior fossa, has been described in clinical practice but is still underinvestigated. The aim of the study was to compare autoregulation coefficients (i.e., pressure reactivity index [PRx]) in two compartments (infratentorial and supratentorial) during the ICP gradient phenomenon...

BACKGROUND: Individual extracerebral organ dysfunction is common after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and impacts outcomes. However, multiorgan failure (MOF) has received less attention in patients with isolated TBI. Our objective was to analyze the risk factors associated with the development of MOF and its impact in clinical outcomes in patients with TBI. METHODS: This was an observational, prospective, multicenter study using data from a nationwide registry that currently includes 52 intensive care units (ICUs) in Spain (RETRAUCI)...

BACKGROUND: Critical closing pressure (CrCP) and resistance-area product (RAP) have been conceived as compasses to optimize cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and monitor cerebrovascular resistance, respectively. However, for patients with acute brain injury (ABI), the impact of intracranial pressure (ICP) variability on these variables is poorly understood. The present study evaluates the effects of a controlled ICP variation on CrCP and RAP among patients with ABI. METHODS: Consecutive neurocritical patients with ICP monitoring were included along with transcranial Doppler and invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring...

Liberating patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) from mechanical ventilation is often a challenging task. These patients frequently require prolonged ventilation and have persistent alterations in the level and content of consciousness. Questions about their ability to protect their airway are common. Pulmonary complications and copious respiratory secretions are also very prevalent. Thus, it is hardly surprising that rates of extubation failure are high. This is a major problem because extubation failure is associated with a host of poor outcome measures...

BACKGROUND: Patients in the neurointensive care unit (NICU) fail extubation despite successful weaning from mechanical ventilation. Parameters currently used in the general intensive care unit do not accurately predict extubation success in the NICU. In this study, peak cough expiratory flow rate, ultrasound-based diaphragm function assessment, and comprehensive clinical scoring systems were measured to determine whether these new variables, in isolation or combination, could predict extubation failure successfully in the NICU...

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Pathophysiological processes following initial insult are complex and not fully understood. Ionized calcium (Ca++ ) is an essential cofactor in the coagulation cascade and platelet aggregation, and hypocalcemia may contribute to the progression of intracranial bleeding. On the other hand, Ca++ is an important mediator of cell damage after TBI and cellular hypocalcemia may have a neuroprotective effect after brain injury...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is still a significant cause of death and disability after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Cerebral vasospasm represents one of the most reported mechanisms associated with DCI. The management of DCI-related vasospasm remains a significant challenge for clinicians; induced hypertension, intraarterial vasodilators, and/or intracranial vessel angioplasty-particularly in refractory or recurrent cases-are the most used therapies. Because an essential role in the pathophysiology of cerebral vasospasm has been attributed to the adrenergic sympathetic nerves, a "sympatholytic" intervention, consisting of a temporary interruption of the sympathetic pathways using local anesthetics, has been advocated to minimize the vascular narrowing and reverse the consequences of cerebral vasospasm on tissue perfusion...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Cerebrovascular disorders are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in children. The acute care of a child with an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke or cerebral sinus venous thrombosis focuses on stabilizing the patient, determining the cause of the insult, and preventing secondary injury. Here, we review the use of both invasive and noninvasive neuromonitoring modalities in the care of pediatric patients with arterial ischemic stroke, nontraumatic intracranial hemorrhage, and cerebral sinus venous thrombosis...

Monitoring of brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2 ) is an important component of multimodal monitoring in traumatic brain injury. Over recent years, use of PbtO2 monitoring has also increased in patients with poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), particularly in those with delayed cerebral ischemia. The aim of this scoping review was to summarize the current state of the art regarding the use of this invasive neuromonitoring tool in patients with SAH. Our results showed that PbtO2 monitoring is a safe and reliable method to assess regional cerebral tissue oxygenation and that PbtO2 represents the oxygen available in the brain interstitial space for aerobic energy production (i...

BACKGROUND: Early computed tomography perfusion (CTP) is frequently used to predict delayed cerebral ischemia following aneurysmatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). However, the influence of blood pressure on CTP is currently controversial (HIMALAIA trial), which differs from our clinical observations. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the influence of blood pressure on early CTP imaging in patients with aSAH. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the mean transit time (MTT) of early CTP imaging within 24 h after bleeding prior to aneurysm occlusion with respect to blood pressure shortly before or after the examination in 134 patients...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) incurs substantial health and economic burden, as it is the leading reason for death and disability globally. Endocrine abnormalities are no longer considered a rare complication of TBI. The reported prevalence is variable across studies, depending on the time frame of injury, time and type of testing, and variability in hormonal values considered normal across different studies. The present review reports evidence on the endocrine dysfunction that can occur after TBI. Several aspects, including the pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical consequences/challenges (in the acute and chronic phases), screening and diagnostic workup, principles of therapeutic management, and insights on future directions/research agenda, are presented...

BACKGROUND: Conflicting evidence exists surrounding systolic blood pressure (SBP) control in patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The 2022 American Heart Association and American Stroke Association guidelines recommend targeting a SBP of 140 mm Hg while maintaining the range of 130-150 mm Hg. The current practice at our health system is to titrate antihypertensives to a SBP goal of < 160 mm Hg, which aligns with previous recommendations. We hypothesized that the prior lack of guidance to a specific SBP target range predisposed patients to hypotension leading to an increased risk of brain and renal adverse events...

BACKGROUND: In patients with cardiac arrest who remain comatose after return of spontaneous circulation, seizures and other abnormalities on electroencephalogram (EEG) are common. Thus, guidelines recommend urgent initiation of EEG for the evaluation of seizures in this population. Point-of-care EEG systems, such as Ceribell™ Rapid Response EEG (Rapid-EEG), allow for prompt initiation of EEG monitoring, albeit through a reduced-channel montage. Rapid-EEG incorporates an automated seizure detection software (Clarity™) to measure seizure burden in real time and alert clinicians at the bedside when a high seizure burden, consistent with possible status epilepticus, is identified...

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders may be directly associated with the intensity of acute brain injury, edema of the brainstem, and opioid use in neurosurgical patients. METHODS: In this retrospective study, patient demographic characteristics, computed tomography (CT) scans, the occurrence of gastroparesis, constipation, and opioid use were registered during the intensive care unit (ICU) stay and correlated with days of mechanical ventilation, length of ICU stay, and survival...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.