Abstract

PLEGUEZUELO RODRIGUEZ, Eduardo M. et al. Monitoreo neurointensivo en pediatría (I): Generalidades. Rev Cubana Pediatr [online]. 2001, vol.73, n.2, pp. 115-122. ISSN 1561-3119.

It is reported that severe cranioencephalic trauma (SCET) is still the main cause of death and disability in Pediatrics. It is also the determinant of prognosis in children with multisystemic trauma, causing not only death but leaving the child in limiting states between death and life, such as the so-called vegetative states. During the last decades the treatment of these patients has been revolutionized and it has passed from the conventional neurosurgical treatment, which was received at neurosurgery wards and had a mortality rate higher than 70%, to neurointensive treatment, which is given at intensive care units (ICU) and is defined by continuous, intensive and invasive monitoring that allow to identify a series of physiopathological phenomena different for each patient and to treat patients in a rational way. This has made possible the reduction of mortality to less than 30 %. After more of 5 years of experience with this methodology at the Provincial General Hospital of Camagüey and more than 2 years of its application at "Eduardo Agramonte" Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital, it was decided to describe in detail in this paper the way of monitoring the patient, as well as the normal values, clinical usefulness and the main pathological deviations of the most important variables, such as: intracranial pressure (ICP), hemodynamic and metabolic variables, which may be determined with modest resources available in most of our intensive care units. This first paper contains general definitions and elements related to the monitoring of ICP and information that may be obtained by using the numerical values appearing in the monitor and by analyzing wave morphology.

Keywords : BRAIN INJURIES [therapy]; HEAD INJURIES [therapy]; INTENSIVE CARE UNITS; INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE; ALGORITHMS; CHILD; MONITORING, PHYSIOLOGIC..

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