Brain tissue lactate elevations predict episodes of intracranial hypertension in patients with traumatic brain injury.

摘要

Intracranial hypertension (ICHT) is a common complication of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurring in approximately 50% of patients. It is a powerful independent predictor of outcomes3'4 and is the primary cause of death in nearly half of TBI patients.1 It is not currently possible to reliably predict the incidence patterns and timing of episodes of ICHT in individual patients. A common cause of post-traumatic ICHT is cerebral edema, which often results from disturbances in cerebral metabolism. We hypothesized that monitoring cerebral metabolism using microdialysis would enable prediction of impending episodes of ICHT.