Abstract
Coma is an acute failure of neuronal systems governing arousal and awareness and represents a neurological emergency. When encountering a comatose patient, the clinician must have an organized approach to detect easily remedial causes, prevent ongoing neurologic injury, and determine a hierarchy of diagnostic tests, treatments, and neuromonitoring. Coma was chosen as an Emergency Neurological Life Support (ENLS) protocol because timely medical and surgical interventions can be life-saving, and the initial work-up of such patients is critical to establishing a correct diagnosis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | S54-S59 |
Journal | Neurocritical care |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | SUPPL. 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2012 |
Keywords
- Coma
- Herniation
- Hypertonic saline
- Mannitol
- Osmolar therapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine