The role of tissue oxygen monitoring in patients with acute brain injury.

Cerebral ischaemia is implicated in poor outcome after brain injury, and is a very common post-mortem finding. The inability of the brain to store metabolic substrates, in the face of high oxygen and glucose requirements, makes it very susceptible to ischaemic damage. The clinical challenge, however, remains the reliable antemortem detection and treatment of ischaemic episodes in the intensive care unit. Outcomes have improved in the traumatic brain injury setting after the introduction of progressive protocol-driven therapy, based, primarily, on the monitoring and control of intracranial pressure, and the maintenance of an adequate cerebral perfusion pressure through manipulation of the mean arterial pressure. With the increasing use of multi-modal monitoring, the complex pathophysiology of the injured brain is slowly being unravelled, emphasizing the heterogeneity of the condition, and the requirement for individualization of therapy to prevent secondary adverse hypoxic cerebral events. Brain tissue oxygen partial pressure (Pb(O2) monitoring is emerging as a clinically useful modality, and this review examines its role in the management of brain injury.