Current neurology and neuroscience reports
-
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Nov 2019
ReviewMachine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Neurocritical Care: a Specialty-Wide Disruptive Transformation or a Strategy for Success.
Neurocritical care combines the complexity of both medical and surgical disease states with the inherent limitations of assessing patients with neurologic injury. Artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered interest in the basic management of these complicated patients as data collection becomes increasingly automated. ⋯ In this opinion article, we highlight the potential AI has in aiding the clinician in several aspects of neurocritical care, particularly in monitoring and managing intracranial pressure, seizures, hemodynamics, and ventilation. The model-based method and data-driven method are currently the two major AI methods for analyzing critical care data. Both are able to analyze the vast quantities of patient data that are accumulated in the neurocritical care unit. AI has the potential to reduce healthcare costs, minimize delays in patient management, and reduce medical errors. However, these systems are an aid to, not a replacement for, the clinician's judgment.
-
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Oct 2019
ReviewNew Insights Into Cryptococcus Spp. Biology and Cryptococcal Meningitis.
Defective cell-mediated immunity is a major risk factor for cryptococcosis, a fatal disease if untreated. Cryptococcal meningitis (CM), the main presentation of disseminated disease, occurs through hematogenous spread to the brain from primary pulmonary foci, facilitated by yeast virulence factors. We revisit remarkable recent improvements in the prevention, diagnosis and management of CM. ⋯ Cryptococcal antigen (CrAg), main capsular polysaccharide of Cryptococcus spp. is detectable in blood and cerebrospinal fluid of infected patients with point of care lateral flow assays. Recent World Health Organization guidelines recommend 7-day amphotericin B plus flucytosine, then 7-day high dose (1200 mg/day) fluconazole for induction treatment of HIV-associated CM. Management of raised intracranial pressure, a consequence of CM, should rely mainly on daily therapeutic lumbar punctures until normalisation. In HIV-associated CM, following introduction of antifungal therapy, (re)initiation of antiretroviral therapy should be delayed by 4-6 weeks to prevent immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, common in CM. CM is a fatal disease whose diagnosis has recently been simplified. Treatment should always include antifungal combination therapy and management of raised intracranial pressure. Screening for immune deficiency should be mandatory in all patients with cryptococcosis.
-
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Aug 2019
ReviewAutomated Pupillometry in Neurocritical Care: Research and Practice.
The purpose of this review is to examine the impact of pupillometer assessment on care and research of patients with neurological injury. ⋯ Recent studies demonstrate that automated pupillometry outperforms manual penlight pupil examination in neurocritical care populations. Further research has identified specific changes in the pupillary light reflex associated with pathologic conditions, and pupillometry has been used to successfully identify early changes in neurologic function, intracranial pressure, treatment response to osmotherapy, and prognosis after cardiac arrest. Automated pupillometry is being increasingly adopted as a routine part of the neurologic examination, supported by a growing body of literature demonstrating its reliability, accuracy, and ease of use. Automated pupillometry allows rapid, non-invasive, reliable, and quantifiable assessment of pupillary function which may allow rapid diagnosis of intracranial pathology that affects clinical decision making.
-
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Feb 2019
ReviewNeurological Prognostication After Cardiac Arrest in the Era of Target Temperature Management.
The purpose of this study is to provide an updated review on neurological prognostication in comatose patients after cardiac arrest in light of current targeted temperature management (TTM) strategies. ⋯ With improved pre-hospital and hospital care, death due to cardiac arrest is decreasing. Yet, most survivors have poor neurological outcomes. While TTM has demonstrated to improve neurological outcomes, it may cloud our prognostic accuracy. A multimodal approach is currently used to diminish prognostic uncertainty. The neurological examination remains the mainstay for prognosis after cardiac arrest. The combination electroencephalogram, somatosensory evoked potentials, and neuron-specific enolase improve prognostic accuracy, mostly in patients who underwent TTM. Quantitative analysis of pupillary reaction and EEG background variability, neuroimaging (CT perfusion and DWI-MRI), and middle/long-latency evoked potentials are promising methods that may further improve the precision of outcome prognostication.
-
Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep · Nov 2018
ReviewA Precision Medicine Approach to Cerebral Edema and Intracranial Hypertension after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Quo Vadis?
Standard clinical protocols for treating cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension after severe TBI have remained remarkably similar over decades. Cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension are treated interchangeably when in fact intracranial pressure (ICP) is a proxy for cerebral edema but also other processes such as extent of mass lesions, hydrocephalus, or cerebral blood volume. A complex interplay of multiple molecular mechanisms results in cerebral edema after severe TBI, and these are not measured or targeted by current clinically available tools. Addressing these underpinnings may be key to preventing or treating cerebral edema and improving outcome after severe TBI. ⋯ This review begins by outlining basic principles underlying the relationship between edema and ICP including the Monro-Kellie doctrine and concepts of intracranial compliance/elastance. There is a subsequent brief discussion of current guidelines for ICP monitoring/management. We then focus most of the review on an evolving precision medicine approach towards cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension after TBI. Personalization of invasive neuromonitoring parameters including ICP waveform analysis, pulse amplitude, pressure reactivity, and longitudinal trajectories are presented. This is followed by a discussion of cerebral edema subtypes (continuum of ionic/cytotoxic/vasogenic edema and progressive secondary hemorrhage). Mechanisms of potential molecular contributors to cerebral edema after TBI are reviewed. For each target, we present findings from preclinical models, and evaluate their clinical utility as biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cerebral edema reduction. This selection represents promising candidates with evidence from different research groups, overlap/inter-relatedness with other pathways, and clinical/translational potential. We outline an evolving precision medicine and translational approach towards cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension after severe TBI.