I. Resuscitation and Initial Assessment
1. Does It Matter How Head-Injured Patients Are Resuscitated?
2. What Is the Best Way to Assess and Classify Head-Injured
Patients?
3. What Is the Best Way to Assess and Classify Spinal Cord-Injured
Patients?
4. When Are Computed Tomography Scans and Skull X-Rays Indicated
for Patients with Minor Head Injury?
5. What Is the Best Way to Rule Out Spine or Spinal Cord Injury in
a Trauma Patient, Especially When Head Injury Is Present?
6. How Can I Decide That a Head-Injured Patient Can't Be
Salvaged?
II. Issues Common to Head Injury and Spinal Cord
Injury
7. Can Special Beds Reduce the Incidence of Complications in
Head-Injured and Spinal Cord-Injured Patients?
8. What's the Safest Way to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and
Pulmonary Embolism After Head or Spinal Cord Injury? How Soon After
Surgery Can I Anticoagulate My Patients Who Develop Deep Vein
Thrombosis?
III. Brain Injury
Monitoring
9. When and How Should I Monitor Intracranial Pressure?
10. Should I Monitor Jugular Venous Oxygen Saturation?
11. Should I Monitor Brain Tissue PO2?
12. Should I Monitor Cerebral Blood Flow After Traumatic Brain
Injury?
General Management of Brain-Injured Patients
13. Does Raising Cerebral Perfusion Pressure Help Head-Injured
Patients?
14. What Are the Best Ventilator Settings for Head-Injured
Patients? What Is the Role of Hyperventilation?
15. What Is the Optimal Hematocrit and Hemoglobin for Head-Injured
Patients?
16. How Soon Should Patients Receive Nutrition? How Much, Which
Formulation, and by Which Route?
17. Are There Safe Upper and Lower Limits for Serum Sodium and
Serum Osmolality in Head-Injured Patients? Should I Use Hypertonic
Saline or Fluid Restriction to Treat Hyponatremia?
18. When Should Follow-Up Computed Tomography Scans Be
Obtained?
19. Do Patients with Intracranial Pressure Monitors Need
Prophylactic Antibiotics?
20. Do Head-Injured Patients Need Prophylactic Anticonvulsants? For
How Long?
21. Are Steroids Indicated in the Treatment of Head Injury?
22. Does Following the Recommendations in the Guidelines for
the Management of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Make a
Difference in Patient Outcome?
23. Why Have Therapeutic Trials in Head Injury Been Unable to
Demonstrate Benefits?
Treatment of Elevated Intracranial Pressure
24. At What Level Should I Start Treating Elevated Intracranial
Pressure?
25. Is There a "Best" Way to Give Mannitol?
26. Should I Use Hypertonic Saline to Treat High Intracranial
Pressure?
27. Does Barbiturate Coma Help to Improve Outcome from Head
Injury?
28. Does Hypothermia Improve Outcome?
29. Does Decompressive Craniectomy Really Improve Outcome After
Head Injury?
30. What's the Best Algorithm for Treating Intracranial
Hypertension?
Special Circumstances
31. Simultaneous Intracranial and Abdominal Injury: Which Gets
Operated on First, and Which Has the Higher Treatment Priority?
32. When Should Head-Injured Patients with Long-Bone Fractures
Undergo Surgical Treatment of Their Fractures?
33. When Should I Suspect Child Abuse in Head-Injured Children?
34. Can I Say "No" If a Family Wants to Support a Vegetative
Patient Indefinitely?
IV. Spinal Cord Injury
General Management of Spinal Cord-Injured Patients
35. Does Methylprednisolone Help Patients with Spinal Cord
Injury?
36. Are There New Therapies That Improve Outcome in Spinal
Cord-Injured Patients?
37. When Is It Safe to Extubate a Newly Quadriplegic Patient? When
Is Early Tracheostomy Appropriate?
38. How Do I Diagnose and Manage SCIWORA?
Surgical Treatment
39. Do I Need to Decompress Patients with Spinal Cord Injury Right
Away?
40. When Is Surgery Indicated for Patients with Gunshot Wounds to
the Spine?
V. Postacute Care
41. What Is the Outcome of Patients with Mild, Moderate, or Severe
Traumatic Brain Injury?
42. How Well Can Patients Be Expected to Recover After Spinal Cord
Injury?
43. Does Rehabilitation Facilitate Neurologic Recovery After Spinal
Cord Injury?
VI. Sports Medicine
44. How Soon After Head Injury (With or Without Craniotomy) Can
Patients Resume Contact Sports?
45. How Important Are Stingers?
46. Do Return-to-Play Recommendations After Concussion Differ for
High School, Collegiate, and Professional Athletes?
VII. Trauma Systems
47. Which Specialty Should Be in Charge of Neurotrauma Patients? Do
Patients with Head or Spinal Cord Injury Require a Specialized
Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit?
48. Should Head-Injured Patients Be Taken to the Nearest Hospital
or to a Hospital with Neurosurgical Capability That Is Farther
Away?
Dept. of Neurosciences, California Pacific Medical Center; Dept. of Neurological Surgery, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
"A must-have textbook for any healthcare personnel involved in the care of a patient with neurotrauma. The author list reads like a Who's Who" of neurotrauma specialists. The questions addressed are clinically relevant and cover all aspects of patient care from prehospital to admission to rehabilitative efforts. The concise chapter format makes this text extremely easy to read. The quick answer is available in those moments of urgency or late-night decision making and richly informative details are provided when time permits a more extensive review. The section on brain injury is extensive, up-to-date and thought provoking. Each chapter in this text is well written, current and thorough yet concise. The price is extremely reasonable for the quality of information provided. I have already referenced this text many times on teaching rounds, and plan to add it to my list of required readings for our neuroscience intensive care units and neurocritical care programs. I give the highest recommendation for [this book] to all neurosurgeons, neurointensivists, trauma surgeons, emergency physicians, and any other healthcare personnel involved in the care of the patient with neurotrauma." -- Journal of Neurosurgery "..We recognize the colors of the highly respected publishing house of Thieme and our spirits take a lift. And when we undo the wrapping, we are not disappointed. For this book is a feast and there is food for all who have any interest in head and spinal injuries. [The book] appeals not only to students, residents and physicians unfamiliar with the subject but also to specialists such as neurosurgeons, intensivists, trauma surgeons and anaesthetists, as well as all manner of allied health professionals. It will be particularly useful to those preparing for specialist fellowship examinations. The beauty of the book is that it can be consulted at any level - from the overview pearls of wisdom to an in-depth reference bank for those wishing to dig deep. Page for page, there can be few texts which offer so much useful information, all beautifully presented in a common and consistent style from a school of 71 contributors. The result is a very readable compendium of answers to 48 questions, each chosen for their relevance to the everyday patient management. Throughout, there is a lively and critical presentation of clinical evidence, to which contributors add, quite distinctly, their own wisdom and experience. Suffice it to say that it is a joy to read and the many who have made it possible are to be congratulated. Although instinctively reluctant to award five stars, this is the rating the book deserves. I liked it."--Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
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