Intracranial pressure response to stable xenon inhalation in patients with head injury.

Cerebral blood flow measured by xenon-enhanced computed tomography may provide useful information in victims of severe head injury. To assess the effect of stable xenon inhalation on intracranial pressure, intracranial pressure was measured in 17 mechanically ventilated patients with severe head injury undergoing cerebral blood flow studies with xenon-enhanced computed tomography. Under hypocapnic conditions, mean intracranial pressure increased by less than 1 mm Hg (p less than 0.05) late in the inhalation period only in patients whose baseline intracranial pressure was less than 20 mm Hg. It was concluded that under hypocapnic conditions, the magnitude of this increase in intracranial pressure does not prohibit the safe evaluation of cerebral blood flow in victims of head injury using xenon-enhanced computed tomography.