Neurocritical Care: A Guide to Practical Management

Neurocritical Care: A Guide to Practical Management provides clear and concise guidelines for the clinician, on the management of adult brain injured patients. It steers the clinician through the complicated decisions that are demanded in these cases, involving initial assessment, interpretation of radiological investigations, referral to a Regional Neurosurgical Center, prevention of secondary brain injury and the management of complex clinical scenarios such as Status epilepticus. This book will prove an indispensible aid for making these critical decisions.


Including tried and tested proformas for swift and accurate communication of information to Regional Neurosurgical Centers, this book equips the clinician to get the most out of these specialist services. This book also addresses the difficult area of defining futility and withdrawal of care, ranging from the role of neuro-radiological imaging in aiding these decisions to a discussion of the complex ethical dilemmas that the clinician is inevitably faced with.

A comprehensive easy-reference, Neurocritical Care is essential reading for those working within the primary referring centre in Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Surgery.


John P. Adams, MB ChB MRCP FRCA ATLS PGD – MedSch (Anesthesia) is Consultant Anesthetist with an interest in Neuroanesthesia and Anesthesia for Endocrine Surgery at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK.

Dominic Bell, FFA.RCS MB ChB MPhil is Consultant in Intensive Care and Anesthesia at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK.

Justin McKinlay, MA (Oxon) BM Bch FRCA is Consultant Anesthetist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK.

Table of contents
Brain Injury and Dysfunction: The Critical Role of Primary Management.- Monitoring the Injured Brain.- The Secondary Management of Traumatic Brain Injury.- Critical Care Management of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.- Central Nervous System Infections.- Cervical Spine Injuries.- Recent Advances in the Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke.- Seizures on the Adult Intensive Care Unit.- Non-Neurological Complications of Brain Injury.- Acute Weaknesses in Intensive Care.- Coma, Confusion and Agitation in Intensive Care.- Death and Donation in Critical Care: The Diagnosis of Brainstem Death.- Death and Donation in Critical Care: Management of Deceased Organ Donation.- Imaging the Brain Injured Patient.- Ethical Dilemmas within Intensive Care.- Appendices.