ABSTRACT
The critically ill patient with a primary neurologic disorder is best managed in a neurocritical care unit. The specialized care provides an interface between the brain and the various other organ systems of the body while catering to the unique requirements of a deranged physiology. The basic tenets of neuroprotection such as optimizing cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) with improved oxygen delivery and minimizing cerebral metabolic oxygen requirement, which have presumably begun in the emergency room or operating theater, have to be maintained in the critical care unit. Time has to be given after this for the "damaged, but protected brain" to heal itself. This difference in the duration of stay of the patient in a compromised status is where lies the role of neurocritical care—in preventing further neurologic and other systemic injury, and recognizing and treating ongoing and new onset threats. All this has to be done while maintaining normal homeostasis in the hitherto normal organs surrounded by abnormal milieu.
