Multimodality monitoring in paediatric severe traumatic brain injury : the contributions of brain oxygen, transcranial doppler and autoregulation monitoring to conventional methods on monitoring

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-218).
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly complex clinical condition in the most complex organ of the body. The foundation of care of the patient with severe TBI is the prevention of secondary insults to the brain. This relies on conventional monitoring tools to identify patients at risk, but often these may fail to detect important secondary insults. Moreover, the therapies that are used commonly in the critical care environment all have potential adverse effects, many of which may not be evident. TBI treatment in children is further complicated by changing thresholds with age, and the much smaller evidence base compared to their adult counterparts.