Neurocritical care
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Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be a common problem associated with the treatment of acute brain injury. High frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) is a developing therapy for the treatment of ARDS in adult patients that can be life saving. However, often patients with acute, severe brain injury demonstrate intracranial hypertension (hICP) due to a variety of injuries (e.g., traumatic brain injury, mass lesion, acute hydrocephalus). There is concern over the use of HFOV due to its effects on intracranial pressure in patients with hICP. ⋯ HFOV did not cause unmanageable or sustained increases in ICP in our series of patients. It appears HFOV may be a relatively safe and effective means of oxygenating patients with severe ARDS and concomitant hICP secondary to acute brain injury.
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Seizures are commonly encountered in the setting of brain injury in neurologic critical care. Though seizure prophylaxis with the use of antiepileptic drugs is frequently utilized in variety of brain injury paradigms, it is often not based on evidence and is controversial. Significant difficulties arise from interpretation of supporting literature due to lack of definitions for early-vs.-late-seizures, variable end points with seizure prophylaxis, as well as methodologic inconsistencies for seizure detection. This descriptive review summarizes the existing literature on the use of prophylactic anticonvulsants in clinical paradigms commonly encountered in neurologic critical care and highlights the important controversies concerning their use.
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S100B is a protein biomarker that reflects CNS injury. It can be measured in the CSF or serum with readily available immunoassay kits. The excellent sensitivity of S100B has enabled it to confirm the existence of subtle brain injury in patients with mild head trauma, strokes, and after successful resuscitation from cardiopulmonary arrest. ⋯ In the future, S100B measurements might reliably predict secondary brain injury and enable physicians to initiate therapeutic interventions in a timelier manner. S100B levels have been shown to rise hours to days before changes in ICP, neurological examinations, and neuroimaging tests. S100B levels may also be used to monitor the efficacy of treatments.
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To describe features in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and to identify predictors of 12-month outcome. ⋯ Patients in poor clinical condition after SAH have more than a 50:50 chance of a favorable outcome after 1 year. High mean 8-day S100B value and persistent intracranial hypertension predict a poor outcome (GOS 1-3) after 1 year.
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S100B is viewed as the most promising biomarker for brain damage. It has been proposed that this marker is useful in a Neurointensive Care Unit (NICU) as a monitoring parameter. This study aims to examine the clinical usefulness of daily serum S100B measurements in this setting. ⋯ Daily S100B measurements are associated with secondary complications but not to outcome. However, daily S100B levels do not predict secondary complications, which limit the usefulness of this brain biomarker in this setting.