16. Acute Interventions for Acquired Brain Injury

During the initial stages of a brain injury, there are variable degrees of irreversible damage to the central nervous system commonly known as the primary injury. Subsequently, a chain of events is put into motion leading to ongoing injury to the brain caused by edema, hypoxia, and ischemia which occurs as a result of increased ICP, the release of toxic amounts of excitatory neurotransmitters like glutamate, and impaired ionic homeostasis (2007). Acute brain injury treatment therefore focuses on preventing or minimizing the extent of secondary injury by targeting intracranial hypertension, oxygenation and ion homeostasis in order to reduce cellular injury.