Ropper AH, Gress DR, Diringer MN, Green DM, Mayer SA, Bleck TP: Neurological and Neurosurgical Intensive Care, 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Excerpt

The latest installment of Neurological and Neursurgical Intensive Care by Ropper and colleagues is a well written and concise textbook on neurocritical care. The textbook is aimed at a beginner-level audience and is quite helpful for residents and fellows who are novices in critical care or medical intensivists who need a refresher in the basic principals of neurointensive care. The book is organized into two main parts, the first covering basic principals of neurologic intensive care and the second being problem based, focusing on the most common clinical problems in neurointensive care. The strengths of this textbook, now in its fourth edition, is that all of the basic elements are covered and the reader will acquire a fundamental knowledge upon which to base sound clinical decisions in the management of patients encountered in routine practice. For example, the third chapter deals with the principals of elevated intracranial pressure and outlines the main indications for monitoring, current concepts on treatment options, and the basic tenets of sedation, osmotic therapy, hyperventilation, and the modern use of jugular venous saturation monitoring. Most of the recommendations and discussion in these chapters seem quite reasonable with exceptions. Special topics such as brain death and the persistent vegetative state are also outlined. …