title: Emergency Neurological Life Support: Intracranial Hypertension and Herniation.
abstract: Sustained intracranial hypertension and acute brain herniation are "brain codes," signifying catastrophic neurological events that require immediate recognition and treatment to prevent irreversible injury and death. As in cardiac arrest, a brain code mandates the organized implementation of a stepwise management algorithm. The goal of this emergency neurological life support protocol is to implement an evidence-based, standardized approach to the evaluation and management of patients with intracranial hypertension and/or herniation.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. rstevens@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoykhet
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Rhonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cadena
mesh_terms: D001929:Brain Edema / Q000628:therapy*; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019586:Intracranial Hypertension / Q000628:therapy*; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000379:methods*; D009462:Neurology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Brain edema; Herniation; Hyperventilation; Osmotherapy