Thoughts on this patient and the treatment plan if you would. 26 yr old male fell through attic. Initial gcs was 13 in ed. He became less responsive and was agitated so subsequently intubated. His CT showed Intracranial bleeding nothing obvious to evacuate. A bolt was placed in ICU at bedside to monitor icp. All pretty straight forward. Here is where I'm confused as to the goals for this patient. This bolt has been in for almost two weeks. The patients icp has been labile and erratic. He has been paralyzed for a time, heavily sedated. Hypeosmolar treatment even 23% saline pushes 10ml at a time but ICP will not stabilize for longer than a few hours at a time. Questions: have you seen bolts in for this long, is there a point at which monitoring icp when it refuses to stabilize becomes fruitless? There really are no surgical options as stated above the bleed is throughout the tissues and not confined to a space commonly evacuated. Any thoughts would be helpful.
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Thoughts on this patient and the treatment plan if you would. 26 yr old male fell through attic. Initial gcs was 13 in ed. He became less responsive and was agitated so subsequently intubated. His CT showed Intracranial bleeding nothing obvious to evacuate. A bolt was placed in ICU at bedside to monitor icp. All pretty straight forward. Here is where I'm confused as to the goals for this patient. This bolt has been in for almost two weeks. The patients icp has been labile and erratic. He has been paralyzed for a time, heavily sedated. Hypeosmolar treatment even 23% saline pushes 10ml at a time but ICP will not stabilize for longer than a few hours at a time. Questions: have you seen bolts in for this long, is there a point at which monitoring icp when it refuses to stabilize becomes fruitless? There really are no surgical options as stated above the bleed is throughout the tissues and not confined to a space commonly evacuated. Any thoughts would be helpful.