ABSTRACT
Significant advances in the treatment of acute pediatric brain injury have resulted in increased survival over the past two decades. Improved pulmonary management with endotracheal intubation, mechanical ventilation, cardiovascular support, and application of techniques to monitor and treat intracranial hypertension have evolved with resulting decreases in mortality of severely injured children (Kumar, West, Quirke, Hall, & Taylor, 1991). While there appears to be differences in adult and pediatric centers deciding which patients benefit from osmotic diuretics, intracranial pressure monitoring, and intubation with or without hyperventilation (Harari, Narayan, Iacona, Ishman, & Ghajar, 1992), all physicians share a common goal of reducing morbidity and optimizing the functional outcome of severely head-injured children.
