What are herniation syndromes?
A cerebral herniation or brain herniation is a serious medical condition that happens when brain tissues move from one part of the brain to another adjacent part of the brain. It is usually caused when another condition causes swelling or pressure inside the brain.
What are the different types of herniation?
The most common types of hernia are inguinal (inner groin), incisional (resulting from an incision), femoral (outer groin), umbilical (belly button), and hiatal (upper stomach).
What is a Transtentorial herniation?
A transtentorial herniation is the movement of brain tissue from one intracranial compartment to another. This includes uncal, central, and upward herniation. These are life-threatening and time-critical pathologies that may be reversible with emergent surgical intervention and medical management.
What is meant by brain herniation?
A brain herniation, sometimes described as a cerebral herniation, occurs when brain tissue, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shift from their normal position inside the skull. The condition is usually caused by swelling from a head injury, stroke, bleeding, or brain tumor.
What are the signs of brain herniation?
Symptoms
- High blood pressure.
- Irregular or slow pulse.
- Severe headache.
- Weakness.
- Cardiac arrest (no pulse)
- Loss of consciousness, coma.
- Loss of all brainstem reflexes (blinking, gagging, and pupils reacting to light)
- Respiratory arrest (no breathing)
What is cingulate herniation?
In cingulate or subfalcine herniation, the most common type, the innermost part of the frontal lobe is scraped under part of the falx cerebri, the dura mater at the top of the head between the two hemispheres of the brain.
What is Cushings reflex?
The Cushing reflex is a physiological nervous system response to acute elevations of intracranial pressure (ICP), resulting in the Cushing triad of widened pulse pressure (increasing systolic, decreasing diastolic) bradycardia, and irregular respirations.
How is ICP calculated?
The most definitive way of measuring the intracranial pressure is with transducers placed within the brain. A catheter can be surgically inserted into one of the brain’s lateral ventricles and can be used to drain CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) in order to decrease ICPs.