Pediatric neurointensive care: 2008 update for the Rogers' Textbook of Pediatric Intensive Care

Abstract

Objective: To review important articles, in the field of pediatric neurointensive care, that were published subsequent to the fourth edition of the Rogers' Textbook of Pediatric Intensive Care.

Data sources: The U.S. National Library of Medicine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrezPubMed) was searched for the term pediatric and the following individual terms, cardiac arrest, asphyxia, traumatic brain injury, status epilepticus, stroke, cerebral ischemia, and cerebral hemorrhage, to generate abstracts of additional citations that were then screened for potential inclusion. The authors were also aware of a number of key recent articles in both pediatric and adult neurointensive care and these were also screened.

Study selection and data extraction: Promising articles were reviewed and the decision as to whether they were included was made at the discretion of the section editors.

Data synthesis: Articles in four categories were included based on selected chapters in the neurointensive care section of the textbook, using the specific chapter heading in the textbook, namely, head and spinal cord trauma, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, status epilepticus, and cerebrovascular disease and stroke.

Conclusion: Developments in the field and practice of pediatric neurocritical care continue with significant additions to the literature and practice recommendations concerning care following traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest, status epilepticus, and cerebrovascular events. Importantly, the continued progression in knowledge raises the health services issue of whether, in certain settings of high clinical volume, it is time for specialized pediatric neurointensive care services or units.