Abstract
Patient positioning for neurosurgical operations should allow optimal surgical exposure while ensuring patient safety and comfort. Neurosurgical operations require a variety of patient positions to safely access all aspects of the brain and spinal cord. The most common complications associated with patient positioning are pressure ulcers and peripheral nerve injuries. Other rare, but serious, complications related to positioning for neurosurgical procedures include cerebral edema and bleeding, visual loss, quadriplegia, venous and paradoxical air embolism, pneumocephalus, and macroglossia. Positioning for neurosurgical procedures can also impact cardiovascular and respiratory systems, challenging the neuroanesthesiologist.
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Heller, K.O., Vavilala, M.S., Rozet, I. (2020). Positioning the Patient for Neurosurgical Operations. In: Brambrink, A., Kirsch, J. (eds) Essentials of Neurosurgical Anesthesia & Critical Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17410-1_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17410-1_22
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