Study of 30 patients with raised intracranial pressure whose condition worsened after lumbar puncture emphasizes the danger of carrying this out in the presence of raised intracranial pressure. In half the cases deterioration was immediate and dramatic, and in the other half it occurred within 12 hours. Probably a tentorial or cerebellar pressure cone, or both, had formed before lumbar puncture...

Raised intracranial pressure is a life threatening condition; unless recognized and treated early, it may progress into herniation syndrome and death. Symptoms and signs are neither sufficiently sensitive nor specific, hence a high index of suspicion and vigilance are needed for early recognition. Immediate goal of management is to prevent / reverse herniation and to maintain good cerebral perf...

Five patients are described in whom a benign or malignant thoracolumbar tumour, producing increased level of cerebrospinal fluid protein, was associated with hydrocephalus or papilloedema or both. A review of the clinical and laboratory features in these and 40 published cases underlines the difficulty in explaining the increased intracranial pressure in such patients. Slow absorption of cerebr...

BACKGROUND Optic nerve ultrasonography (ONUS) may help identify raised intracranial pressure (ICP). The optimal optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) cut-off for the identification of intracranial hypertension has not been established, with some clinical studies suggesting a higher cut-off than may be expected on the basis of prior laboratory investigation. OBJECTIVE To validate ONUS performed b...