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Management of Increased Intracranial Pressure

  • CRITICAL CARE NEUROLOGY (KN SHETH, SECTION EDITOR)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Neurology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

After brain injury, neurologic intensive care focuses on the detection and treatment of secondary brain insults that may compound the initial injury. Increased intracranial pressure (ICP) contributes to secondary brain injury by causing brain ischemia, hypoxia, and metabolic dysfunction. Because ICP is easily measured at the bedside, it is the target of numerous pharmacologic and surgical interventions in efforts to improve brain physiology and limit secondary injury. However, ICP may not adequately reflect the metabolic health of the underlying brain tissue, particularly in cases of focal brain injury. As a result, ICP control alone may be insufficient to impact patients’ long-term recovery. Further studies are needed to better understand the combination of cerebral, hemodynamic, and metabolic markers that are best utilized to ensure optimal brain and systemic recovery and overall patient outcome after brain injury.

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Conflict of Interest

Danielle K. Sandsmark declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Kevin N. Sheth declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with animal subjects performed by any of the authors. With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures were followed in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3W Gates Building, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Danielle K. Sandsmark MD, PhD

  2. Division of Neurocritical Care and Emergency Neurology, Department of Neurology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Kevin N. Sheth MD

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  1. Danielle K. Sandsmark MD, PhD
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  2. Kevin N. Sheth MD
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Correspondence to Danielle K. Sandsmark MD, PhD.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Critical Care Neurology

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Sandsmark, D.K., Sheth, K.N. Management of Increased Intracranial Pressure. Curr Treat Options Neurol 16, 272 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-013-0272-3

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