UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Management of Increased Intracranial Pressure

Category: Neurology

Keywords: increased intracranial pressure, opening pressure (PubMed Search)

Posted: 12/21/2011 by Aisha Liferidge, MD (Updated: 12/21/2024)
Click here to contact Aisha Liferidge, MD

When performing a lumbar puncture, an opening intracranial pressure (ICP) greater than 20 to 25 mm of H2O is elevated.

If it is thought that a patient's headache is due to elevated pressure, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can be therapeutically removed. It is typically recommended that the pressure not be lowered by more than 50% of the amount above which it is normal.

The source of elevated ICP should be determined and addressed. Common causes of increased intracranial pressure include:

--- Venous drainage obstruction (i.e. cerebral venous sinus thrombosis).

--- Endocrine (i.e. obesity, hypothyroidism, Cushing's disease, Addison's disease).

--- Medications (i.e. vitamin A, cyclosporine, lithium, lupron, oral contraceptives,

amiodorone, and antiobiotics such as tetracyclines and sulfonamides).

--- Other conditions (i.e. pregnancy, steroid withdrawal, acromegaly, polycystic ovary

syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, sleep apnea, HIV).