NICEM consensus on neurological monitoring in acute neurological disease

This manuscript summarises the consensus on neuromonitoring in neuro-intensive care promoted and organised by the Neuro-Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (NICEM) Section of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). It is expected that continuous monitoring using multi-modal techniques will help to overcome the limitations of each individual method and will provide a better diagnosis. More specific treatment can then be applied; however, it remains to be determined which combination of parameters is optimal. The questions discussed and addressed in this manuscript are: (1) Who should have ICP monitoring and for how long? (2) What ICP technologies are available and what are their relative advantages/disadvantages? (3) Should CPP monitoring and autoregulation testing be used? (4) When should brain tissue oxygen tension (PbrO2) be monitored? (5) Should structurally normal or abnormal tissue be monitored with PbrO2? (6) Should microdialysis be considered in complex cases? It is hoped that this document will prove useful to clinicians working in NICU and also to those developing specialist NICU services within their hospital practice. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.