[Intracranial pressure and mean arterial pressure: possibilities and necessity of their control].

Already Cushing pointed out that intracranial volume, thus the intracranial pressure, or ICP should exhibit an equilibrium state. Brain receives about 15% of the heart stroke volume. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) which is under control of an autoregulatory system, results from the cerebral perfusion pressure, or CPP being the difference between the mean arterial pressure and ICP. Intracranial pathology results in a reduced CBF, that under extreme conditions can lead to death. The up-to-date experiments indicate that both the ICP and arterial pressure can be successfully monitored for a quite long period. These observations make the choice of optimum therapy easier. According to some researchers such a monitoring has been introduced as a regular method of the neurosurgical intensive care.