Topics in Neuroanaesthesia and Intensive Care: Experimental and Clinical Studies upon Cerebral Circulation, Metabolism and Intracranial Pressure

The science of neuroanaesthesia and neurointensive care is fascinating, and the amounts of experimental and clinical studies are overwhelming. Surely, everyone can surf Medline and other database systems in order to get information. If you, however, ask for head injury, cerebral ischaemia or barbiturate, you will get hun­ dreds, may be thousands of titles and even the same number of abstracts. The aims of this book are to review important experimental and clinical data with emphasis on up-dated references. The text within each issue and sub-issue systematically covers experimental and clinical data separately, and details con­ cerning cerebral blood flow, cerebral metabolism, intracranial pressure etc. are reviewed accordingly. In our survey of the literature we did not use Medline or other database sys­ tems systematically. Rather, we used available medical journals which covered the topics of anaesthesia, neuroanaesthesia and neurointensive care. In this way we hope that relevant literature is presented. On the other hand, we cannot exclude that some important issues are omitted. The book covers 12 topics. In three chapters methodology of CBF measure­ ments, regulation of CBF, and intracranial pressure are described. In the next 6 chapters inhalation anaesthetics, hypnotic agents, analgesics, muscular relaxants, drugs used for control of blood pressure, and the sitting position are reviewed. The last three chapters cover head injury, subarachnoid haemorrhage and cere­ bral ischaemia.

From the reviews:

"This book reviews and summarizes experimental and clinical studies pertinent to the fields of neuroanaesthesia and neurointensive care. ... The authors have managed to summarize an enormous amount of research and thanks to the short subsections within the chapters, the information is presented in a form that is easily absorbed. Moreover, the subject index is well structured ... . Neurosurgeons who need to familiarize themselves with the specific problems of the intensive care setting will find the chapters on drugs very helpful." (L. A. Steiner, British Journal of Neurosurgery, Vol. 16 (3), 2002)

"The 12 topics in this book range from methods for measurement of cerebral blood flow to head injury management, aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage, and the sitting position. ... I was impressed by the thoroughness of approach and will certainly dip again into the chapters ... . I now have a source of information on which to modify or continue current practice in our neurosciences intensive care unit, and will point any potential researchers in the direction of this book ... ." (S. Hill, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Vol. 88 (3), 2002)