NURSING CARE OF INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE (ICP)

Intracranial Pressure (ICP) : Pressure within the cranial cavity.
Usually measured as the pressure within the lateral ventricles.
ICP normally is less than 15 mm Hg or 180 mm H2O.

Increase in intracranial presure can result in significant tissue ischemia and damage to delicate neural tissue.
Cerebral edema is the most frequent cause of sustained increases in ICP.
Other cause : head trauma, tumors, abscesses, stroke, inflamation, hemorrhage, and number of other pathologic conditions.

•In the adult, the rigid cranial cavity created by the skull is normally filled to capacity with three essentially non compressible elements : the brain (80%), cerebrospinal fluid (10%), and blood (10%).
A state of dynamic equilibrium exist.

•If the volume of any of the three components increases, the volume of the others must decrease to maintain normal pressure within the cranial cavity. is known as the Monro-Kellie hypothesis.
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