Abstract
Intracranial pressure (ICP) is built up by the components brain tissue, blood-vessels (including cerebral volume), and cerebrospinal fluid. If one of them increases its volume, pressure within the skull will rise, for there is no room for rapid compensation. A pressure increase or decrease under the influence of anaesthetics is mainly caused by changes in cerebral blood flow, or rather blood volume. Recently it was shown that the brain tissue itself can in this context contribute to a pressure increase during anaesthesia. Modern inhalation anaesthetics, such as halothane, enflurane, or methoxyflurane, are well known to increase ICP. Since the investigations of McDowall et al. [6], Marx et al. [5], Jennett et al. [4], and others, we know that halothane increases ICP, that this effect is dosage-dependent, and that the increase will be greater the higher the pre-existing pressure level is.
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© 1982 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Cunitz, G. (1982). The Effects of Inhalation Anaesthetics on Intracranial Pressure. In: Peter, K., Jesch, F. (eds) Inhalation Anaesthesia Today and Tomorrow. Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine / Anaesthesiologie und Intensivmedizin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-39944-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-39944-6_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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