SMACC Dublin is behind us. It was a phenomenal 3 days of inspiring talks, discussions and events. Here are a few neuro-related impressions: Martin Smith (Neurocritical Care consultant at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in the UK) gave a solid talk highlighting the challenges pertaining to the concept of brain death, especially the… Continue reading SMACC Dub Neuro Take Home
Right off the press: an open access review article from Critical Care on fluid therapy in the neurological patient. It provides a nice synopsis of the different fluid therapy paradigms that are advocated through various guidelines. The review challenges some of the tenets of basic treatment, such as empirical fluid maintenance and the definition of… Continue reading Critical Care: Fluid Therapy in Neurological Patients
A quick review published in BMJ´s Best Evidence Topic Reports series, April 2016 by Kapil Mohan Rajwani and Azlisham Mohd Nor. They address the issue of lowering elevated blood pressures in patients with an acute ICH. Is it safe and is there evidence to support active BP-management? And if yes, what´s our target? Targeted blood pressure management in… Continue reading Best BETs – Safe to Lower BP in ICH?
An Evidence-Based Consensus Statement from the Neurocritical Care Society. Read more here. Best regards, Riikka Takala.
Immediate apnea after acute head trauma is a concept that has received renewed focus lately. BIA/IBA (Brain Impact Apnea or as some call it, Impact Brain Apnea) was described in animal models as far back as 1874 by Koch and Filehne (1). A number of subsequent studies (2-5) have established a clear link between severity of impact and duration of… Continue reading Brain Impact Apnea
Now more than three years old, but still an absolute landmark study and mandatory reading for anyone who cares for neurotrauma patients. Smallish trial but very well carried out and yielding some remarkable findings. A commonly cited article by Randy Chesnut and his group showing equipoise between an ICP-driven protocol and management determined by CT… Continue reading BEST TRIP – ICP vs. CT/clinical exam for TBI
“… findings support current guidelines against routine use, but strong recommendations are not warranted because confidence in the effect estimates is limited.” Methylprednisolone for the Treatment of Patients with Acute Spinal Cord Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evaniew et al. Journal of Neurotrauma, Feb. 2016. Link to the abstract here.
Dr. Mark Wilson is a neurosurgeon and doctor for the Air Ambulance in the UK. Podcast from Smacc Chicago 2015.
By Bill Knight, Smacc Chicago 2015. Listen to the podcast here.
Excellent talk by Manoj Saxena on traumatic brain injury and temperature control. A useful overview of the available evidence. From SMACC Chicago 2015.
neuroscand.com 