Increased Intracranial Pressure

Abstract

Cerebral edema, alterations in the amount or the site of brain water, is caused by brain injuries, infection, intoxication, and metabolic encephalopathies. It has been classified as being vascular/interstitial or toxic/cytoplasmic. Excessive brain edema produces increased intracranial pressure, which may cause brain herniation, with displacement of tonsilar, uncal, or cingulate brain tissues into the foramen magnum, posterior fossa, or below the falx, respectively. The herniated brain tissues can compress and interfere with regions of vital brain function (i.e., the brain stem). The gross deformations of brain herniations are not obvious in the brain of an infant with nonfused skull sutures, but the detrimental pressure effects of excessive brain edema may still operate [1].