Chairman’s Introduction

Abstract

In this session we shall try to identify the relationship that exists between the pressure inside the brain, the brain chemistry and function, and the pathological picture. A single set of rules cannot yet be formulated to help us understand all the effects of elevated intracranial pressure on brain function. The factors requiring to be taken into account are the preexisting state of the brain, i.e. normal as in acute hydrocephalus, or damaged as in trauma; the distribution of the pressures applied within the brain; the temporal sequence off the elevation of pressure and the durations thereof; and the cause of the increased intracranial pressure.