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. 2017 Sep;27(Suppl 1):74-81.
doi: 10.1007/s12028-017-0452-1.

Emergency Neurological Life Support: Approach to the Patient with Coma

Rhonda S Cadena  1 , Aarti Sarwal  2
Affiliations

Emergency Neurological Life Support: Approach to the Patient with Coma

Rhonda S Cadena et al. Neurocrit Care. 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Coma is an acute failure of neuronal systems governing arousal and awareness and represents a medical emergency. When encountering a comatose patient, the clinician must have an organized approach to detect easily remediable causes, prevent ongoing neurologic injury, and determine a hierarchical plan for diagnostic tests, treatments, and neuromonitoring. Coma was chosen as an Emergency Neurological Life Support protocol because timely medical and surgical interventions can be life-saving, and the initial work-up of such patients is critical to establishing a correct diagnosis.

Keywords: Coma; Consciousness; Critical care; Neurocritical care.

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