Neurocritical care reviews

IMPORTANCE: Although spontaneous intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) accounts for less than 20% of cases of stroke, it continues to be associated with the highest mortality of all forms of stroke and substantial morbidity rates. OBSERVATIONS: Early identification and management of IPH is crucial. Blood pressure control, reversal of associated coagulopathy, care in a dedicated stroke unit, and identification of secondary etiologies are essential to optimizing outcomes...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article reviews epilepsy emergencies, including status epilepticus, acute repetitive seizures, autoimmune encephalitis, and the current perspective on their diagnosis and treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent guidelines on the treatment of status epilepticus from the Neurocritical Care Society in 2012 and the American Epilepsy Society in 2016 highlight areas of consensus in the treatment of status epilepticus as well as areas of uncertainty...

IMPORTANCE: In-hospital cardiac arrest is common and associated with a high mortality rate. Despite this, in-hospital cardiac arrest has received little attention compared with other high-risk cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. OBSERVATIONS: In-hospital cardiac arrest occurs in over 290 000 adults each year in the United States. Cohort data from the United States indicate that the mean age of patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest is 66 years, 58% are men, and the presenting rhythm is most often (81%) nonshockable (ie, asystole or pulseless electrical activity)...

BACKGROUND: Despite decades of research, cerebral vasospasm (CV) continues to account for high morbidity and mortality in patients who survive their initial aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. OBJECTIVE: To define the scope of the problem and review key treatment strategies that have shaped the way CV is managed in the contemporary era. METHODS: A literature search was performed of CV management after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. RESULTS: Recent advances in neuroimaging have led to improved detection of vasospasm, but established treatment guidelines including hemodynamic augmentation and interventional procedures remain highly variable among neurosurgical centers...

Thrombectomy is a technique that has completely changed the management of acute stroke and current devices have shown that they can achieve upwards of 90% successful recanalization in selected cohorts. However, despite the effectiveness of these devices, there are a proportion of patients who still fail to achieve reperfusion of the affected vascular territory and an even larger portion of patients who have poor functional outcomes in spite of successful recanalization. There are no guidelines on how to treat these patients when such failures occur...

New-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is a clinical presentation, not a specific diagnosis, in a patient without active epilepsy or other preexisting relevant neurologic disorder, with new onset of refractory status epilepticus (RSE) that does not resolve after 2 or more rescue medications, without a clear acute or active structural, toxic, or metabolic cause. Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome is a subset of NORSE in which fever began at least 24 hours prior to the RSE. Both terms apply to all age groups...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Ventriculoperitoneal shunts are one of the commonest surgical procedures performed in neurosurgery. Complications of this procedure include mechanical complications and nonmechanical ones. The most distressing mechanical complication is shunt migration, and often when this occurs, it becomes difficult to work out the mechanism and the management protocol. This review is designed to answer questions regarding management details of this unfortunate complication, and also seeks to identify the causes.

This article highlights the pathogenesis and management of cerebral vasospasm. It discusses the various pharmacological, endovascular, and neurosurgical approaches available for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm. Numerous drugs and procedures have been tried and tested in the management of cerebral vasospasm. We try to highlight the pros and cons of various pharmacological agents and case-based use of other not so popular and investigational techniques.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Most clinical neurologists will have come across individuals receiving renal replacement therapy who have developed a neurological complication, and neurologists working in, or close to, hospitals with a Renal Unit will be very aware of the range of central nervous system (CNS) complications that may develop in these patients. These can often be difficult to differentiate from disorders relating to renal failure or systemic conditions leading to kidney disease and can in fact arise from the interaction between underlying disease and the side effects of treatment...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review highlights the aspects of pathophysiology that make it difficult to predict the effects of any attempt to improve brain perfusion and reviews the options to improve brain perfusion according to the needs of an individual patient, focusing on the choice of a suitable threshold for cerebral perfusion pressure. RECENT FINDINGS: Typically, vasopressors or vasodilators that do not directly influence the cerebral vascular bed are used to improve cerebral perfusion...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Seizures and status epilepticus are very common diagnoses in the critically ill patient and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There is an abundance of research on the utility of antiseizure medications in this setting, but limited randomized-controlled trials to guide the selection of medications in these patients. This review examines the current guidelines and treatment strategies for status epilepticus and provides an update on newer antiseizure medications in the critical care settings...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Energy dysfunction is increasingly recognized as a key factor in the pathogenesis of acute brain injury (ABI). This one characterized by a high metabolic rate and nitrogen loss is often associated with an undernutrition support. We review the metabolism evolution and nutritional status in brain injured patient and summarize evidence on nutritional support in this condition. RECENT FINDINGS: The role of nutrition support for improving prognosis in brain injured patient has been underlined recently...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To describe the pathophysiology and pharmacotherapy of dysnatremia in neurocritical care patients. RECENT FINDINGS: Sodium disorders may affect approximately half of the neurocritical care patients and are associated with worse neurological outcome and increased risk of death. Pharmacotherapy of sodium disorders in neurocritical care patients may be challenging and is guided by a careful investigation of water and sodium balance. SUMMARY: In case of hyponatremia, because of excessive loss of sodium, fluid challenge with isotonic solution, associated with salt intake is the first-line therapy, completed with mineralocorticoids if needed...

Ischemic stroke is a common neurologic condition and can lead to significant long term disability and death. Observational studies have demonstrated worse outcomes in patients presenting with the extremes of blood pressure as well as with hemodynamic variability. Despite these associations, optimal hemodynamic management in the immediate period of ischemic stroke remains an unresolved issue, particularly in the modern era of revascularization therapies. While guidelines exist for BP thresholds during and after thrombolytic therapy, there is substantially less data to guide management during mechanical thrombectomy...

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2019. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2019 . Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from https://www.springer.com/series/8901 .

Intracranial pressure monitoring devices have become the standard of care for the management of patients with pathologies associated with intracranial hypertension. Given the importance of invasive intracranial monitoring devices in the modern neurointensive care setting, gaining a thorough understanding of the potential complications related to device placement-and misplacement-is crucial. The increased prevalence of intracranial pressure monitoring as a management tool for neurosurgical patients has led to the publication of a plethora of papers regarding their indications and complications...

BACKGROUND: Seizures are a considerable complication in critically ill patients. Their incidence is significantly high in neurosciences intensive care unit patients. Seizure prophylaxis with anti-epileptic drugs is a common practice in neurosciences intensive care unit. However, its utility in patients without clinical seizure, with an underlying neurological injury, is somewhat controversial. BODY: In this article, we have reviewed the evidence for seizure prophylaxis in commonly encountered neurological conditions in neurosciences intensive care unit and discussed the possible prognostic role of continuous electroencephalography monitoring in detecting early seizures in critically ill patients...

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome is characterized by acute headache, visual impairment, seizures, and altered mental status; neuroimaging may show cerebral edema affecting the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain. The objective of this article is to review the current understanding of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in eclampsia. Literature was searched from PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. The search terms included "eclampsia", "eclampsia and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome", and "pregnancy and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome"...

Diabetes insipidus and the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion lie at opposite ends of the spectrum of disordered renal handling of water. Whereas renal retention of water insidiously causes hypotonic hyponatremia in syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion, diabetes insipidus may lead to free water loss, hypernatremia, and volume depletion. Hypernatremia and hyponatremia are associated with worse outcomes and longer intensive care stays. Moreover, pathologies causing polyuria and hyponatremia in patients in intensive care may be multiple, making diagnosis challenging...