Update in Pediatric Neurocritical Care: What a Neurologist Caring for Critically Ill Children Needs to Know

Abstract

Currently nearly one-quarter of admissions to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) worldwide are for neurocritical care diagnoses that are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Pediatric neurocritical care is a rapidly evolving field with unique challenges due to not only age-related responses to primary neurologic insults and their treatments but also the rarity of pediatric neurocritical care conditions at any given institution. The structure of pediatric neurocritical care services therefore is most commonly a collaborative model where critical care medicine physicians coordinate care and are supported by a multidisciplinary team of pediatric subspecialists, including neurologists. While pediatric neurocritical care lies at the intersection between critical care and the neurosciences, this narrative review focuses on the most common clinical scenarios encountered by pediatric neurologists as consultants in the PICU and synthesizes the recent evidence, best practices, and ongoing research in these cases. We provide an in-depth review of (1) the evaluation and management of abnormal movements (seizures/status epilepticus and status dystonicus); (2) acute weakness and paralysis (focusing on pediatric stroke and select pediatric neuroimmune conditions); (3) neuromonitoring modalities using a pathophysiology-driven approach; (4) neuroprotective strategies for which there is evidence (e.g., pediatric severe traumatic brain injury, post-cardiac arrest care, and ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke); and (5) best practices for neuroprognostication in pediatric traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest, and disorders of consciousness, with highlights of the 2023 updates on Brain Death/Death by Neurological Criteria. Our review of the current state of pediatric neurocritical care from the viewpoint of what a pediatric neurologist in the PICU needs to know is intended to improve knowledge for providers at the bedside with the goal of better patient care and outcomes.