Introduction Primary brain injury results from traumatic or disease-related impact. Two major problems are associated with these injuries. First, damage after primary brain injury cannot be undone even with the best possible management. Second, secondary brain injury is inherent due…
Introduction Sampling of the cerebral tissue environment to gain clinical insight into the state of a patient's evolving neurologic health is an evolving trend in neuroscience and critical care medicine. A start to this can be traced back to Ungerstedt…
Introduction Cerebral oximetry is a noninvasive monitoring modality based on several physical principles that basically acts as an indirect indicator of perfusion adequacy. Therefore, it allows continuous information on oxygen supply-versus-demand balance. It has numerous applications in the clinical field…
Introduction Monitoring of the central nervous system using evoked responses allows assessment of neural tracts that are normally silent during coma or anesthesia. This differs from the electroencephalogram (EEG), which monitors spontaneous activity. They are not a replacement for awake…
Introduction Monitoring the cerebral blood flow (CBF) is critical not only in patients with known neurological disease but also in patients at risk of neurological damage in the perioperative period. Despite the fact that virtually all interventions in neuroanesthesia and…
Introduction Through the recording of scalp surface electrical activity, electroencephalography (EEG) is unique as a noninvasive tool to explore the functioning brain. The obtained complex tracings correspond to the summation of the activity of several underlying neural assemblies, and they…
Introduction Jugular venous oxygen saturation monitoring (SjvO 2 ) is one of the multimodal neuromonitoring methods used to indirectly assess global cerebral oxygen balance and guide physiologic management decisions in both intraoperative and intensive care unit (ICU) settings. Normal SjvO…
Introduction Brain perfusion is peculiar, reflecting the specificity of the brain in the human body. Brain metabolic function depends strictly on oxygen and glucose, yet it is not able to store them, meaning that all the energy must be supplied…
Introduction Increased intracranial pressure (ICP) is an important cause of secondary brain injury, and it is associated with poor outcome. Several conditions are associated with intracranial hypertension (ICH), including extracranial (fever, increased abdominal and intrathoracic pressure, hypercarbia, hypoxia) and intracranial…
Introduction Lumbar fusion is a commonly performed procedure for various spine conditions, including spondylolisthesis, degenerative disk disease, dynamic instability, or lumbar spondylosis. Despite numerous studies, significant debate remains regarding the most effective surgical technique for lumbar fusion. Specifically, use of…