In this post, my first one for 2021, I was lucky enough to be able to choose between a number of great recent publications. Unable to decide, I ended up including them all in one go. As they all centre around a common theme of ICP and haemodynamics, lumping them together didn’t seem entirely illogical.… Continue reading January Roundup: Selected Articles on ICP, Haemodynamic Targets in Acute Brain Injury
In December 2019 the Association of Anaesthetists and the Neuro Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society and the Neuro Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society published their joint guidelines on how to safely transfer patients with acute brain injury to the appropriate level of care. Focusing on TBI and stroke-related brain injury, this consensus document outlines both… Continue reading Joint AAGBI & NACCS Guidelines on Safe Transfer of the Brain Injured Patient
This month’s edition of Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology is replete with neuro-topics, ranging from awake craniotomy to complex spinal surgery and anaesthesia for stroke thrombectomy. Well worth a read, this collection of articles provides (often excellent) summaries of evidence and current practice in numerous fields relevant to the neuroanaesthetist.
The landmark 2016 ATACH II trial compared aggressive blood pressure lowering (110-139 mmHg) with standard BP-targets (140-180) in patients with spontaneous ICH, and found no difference between the groups. The main endpoints were mortality and functional neurological outcome (modified Rankin scale). The only discernible difference was a tendency towards less haematoma expansion in the intervention… Continue reading ATACH II Follow-up Subgroup Analysis: Intensive BP Reduction Reduces Expansion of Deep ICH, But No Difference in Functional Outcome
Intracerebral haemorrhage is associated with a number of haemodynamic consequences. These are not just limited to arrhythmias. Lele and colleagues have summarised the most common and important ones in this review in the Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology.
From our quality-focused colleagues at the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) comes this set of guidelines for management of the most common emergencies encountered in neuroanaesthetic practice. Conceived with the purpose of addressing complex emergent issues in a concise, goal-directed and simplified manner, these cognitive aids are clear-cut and based on… Continue reading SNACC – How to Handle Neuroanaesthetic Emergencies
Endovascular thrombectomy is a cornerstone of ischaemic stroke managament. Time from stroke to intervention has been clearly linked to functional outcome (1) and is a key metric to which much attention is devoted. But what about the duration of the procedure itself? Earlier data has suggested that length of procedure may affect functional outcomes after… Continue reading Recent study in JACC – Procedure Time in Stroke Thrombectomies Has Impact on Outcomes
This study, recently published in JAMA, revealed no beneficial effect from hypothermia as an adjunct to decompressive hemicraniectomy in the setting of middle cerebral artery stroke. In fact, the authors’ findings even suggest harm. Find the article here.
Blunt cerebrovascular injury is a relatively common finding in the traumatised patient and poses a number of clinical challenges. A Scandinavian group recently issued best practice guidelines for management of these injuries. You can find the article (free full-text) by Brommeland et al here.
This well-written article in Intensive Care Medicine nicely highlights the importance, and complexities, of the interaction between the brain and other organ systems in the setting of acute injury.
neuroscand.com 