Recent Progress In The Study And Therapy Of Brain Edema

This issue contains the proceedings of the most recent Inter national Symposium on Brain Edema, the 5th in a series of confer ences starting 1965 in Vienna. The ever since increasing interest in this field may not only result from the fact that - in clinical terms - the problem is not solved yet, but also from the many fascinating physiological and biochemical questions remaining. Moreover, the rapid progress of technical, physiological and bio chemical developments provides a permanent challenge to probe the subject with better and better resolution. The current proceedings provide many examples. It is safe to assume, that the history of brain edema research is familiar to most of its participants. Therefore, suffice it to remark that since the first histopathological recognition of brain edema as a separate entity among the multitude of intracranial space occupying lesions, progress in the understanding of its pathogenesis has not been straightforward. On the contrary, it has been complicated by confusing notions and concepts, some of which may have resulted from the elusiveness of the edematous changes in early histological studies, due to the inadequacy of the light microscope. Although brain edema occurs concomitantly in many pgtho10gica1 conditions of the brain, it has been suggested that its role is collateral only. Nevertheless, the potential of brain edema as a space occupying lesion is not trivial, since it raises intracranial pressure and eventually may result in lethal cerebral herniation.

This book contains the papers delivered at the Symposium on "Medical Treatment of Brain Ede ma" at the Seventh International Congress ofNeu rological Surgery, held in Munich in 1981. The aim of each speaker was to give a short review of current knowledge in his or her field. In addition, most of the authors presented their own data. The symposium . was divided into two parts. The experimental part focused on pathophysiological and biochemical findings, while the clinical part dealt with therapy for brain edema, with particular emphasis on steroids. We wish to acknowledge the technical support of Springer-Verlag, Merck Company, Darmstadt and the help of Miss Scholz, Secretary of the Depart ment of Neurology at the University of Heidel berg. Heidelberg/Berlin A. Hartmann M. Brock v Contents K. -A. Hossmann Pathophysiology of Va so genic and Cytotoxic Brain Edema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Marrnarou, K. Tanaka, and K. Shulmann The Brain Response to Infusion Edema: Dynamics of Fluid Resolution . . . . . . . . . . 11 M. D. O'Brien 19 Ischemic Cerebral Edema A. Baethmann, W Oettinger, K. Moritake, L. Chaussy, andF. Jesch Metabolic Effects of Corticosteroids in Central Nervous Tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 K. Maier-Hauff, O. Kempski, A. Unterberg, U. Gross, M. Lange, L. Schurer, and A. Baethmann The Kallikrein-Kinin-System as Mediator in Cerebral Edema, Recent Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 S. F. Berndt 36 Symptoms of Cerebral Edema W R. Lanksch The Diagnosis of Brain Edema by Computed Tomography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 H. J. Klein and K. Schmidt Hyperosmolar Solutions and Diuretics in the Treatment of Brain Edema . . . . . . . .

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a significant source of death and permanent disability, contributing to nearly one-third of all injury related deaths in the United States and exacting a profound personal and economic toll. Despite the increased resources that have recently been brought to bear to improve our understanding of TBI, the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches has been disappointingly slow. Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury attempts to integrate expertise from across specialties to address knowledge gaps in the field of TBI. Its chapters cover a wide scope of TBI research in five broad areas: Epidemiology Pathophysiology Diagnosis Current treatment strategies and sequelae Future therapies Specific topics discussed include the societal impact of TBI in both the civilian and military populations, neurobiology and molecular mechanisms of axonal and neuronal injury, biomarkers of traumatic brain injury and their relationship to pathology, neuroplasticity after TBI, neuroprotective and neurorestorative therapy, advanced neuroimaging of mild TBI, neurocognitive and psychiatric symptoms following mild TBI, sports-related TBI, epilepsy and PTSD following TBI, and more. The book integrates the perspectives of experts across disciplines to assist in the translation of new ideas to clinical practice and ultimately to improve the care of the brain injured patient.

As an addition to the European postgraduate training system for young neurosurgeons we began to publish in 1974 this series of Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery which was later sponsored by the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. This series was first discussed in 1972 at a combined meeting of the Italian and German Neurosurgical Societies in Taormina, the founding fathers of the series being Jean Brihaye, Bernard Pertuiset, Fritz Loew and Hugo KrayenbtihI. Thus were established the principles of European co operation which have been born from the European spirit, flourished in the European Association, and have throughout been associated with this series. The fact that the English language is well on the way to becoming the international medium at European scientific conferences is a great asset in terms of mutual understanding. Therefore we have decided to publish all contributions in English, regardless of the native language of the authors. All contributions are submitted to the entire editorial board before publi cation of any volume. Our series is not intended to compete with the publications of original scientific papers in other neurosurgical journals. Our intention is, rather, to present fields of neurosurgery and related areas in which important recent advances have been made. The contributions are written by specialists in the given fields and constitute the first part of each volume.

Understanding the structure and function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and recogniz ing its clinical relevance require a concert of scientific disciplines applied from a view point of integrative physiology rather than from only molecular or analytical approaches. It is this broad scope that is emphasized in this book. In my opinion, four original contributions define the field as it exists today. The first, a monograph by Broman,1 entitled The Permeability of the Cerebrospinal Vessels in Normal and Pathological Conditions, was the model for many subsequent clinical and 3 experimental studies on BBB pathology. Second, experiments by Davson, summarized in his book entitled Physiology of the Ocular and Cerebrospinal Fluids, indicated that passive entry of nonelectrolytes into brain from blood is governed largely by their lipid 4 solubility. This research supported the original suggestion by Gesell and Hertzman that cerebral membranes have the semipermeability properties of cell membranes. The modem era of the barrier was introduced with the 1965 paper by Crone,2 entitled "Facilitated transfer of glucose from blood to brain tissue. " This paper identified stereospecific, facilitated transport of glucose as part of a system of regulatory barrier properties at a time when only a barrier to passive diffusion had been contemplated. Finally, the 1967 paper by Reese and Kamovsky, 11 entitled "Fine structural localization of a blood-brain barrier to exogenous peroxidase," sited the barrier at the continuous layer of cerebrovascular endothelial cells, which are connected by tight junctions.

Brain edema is a simple phenomenon – an abnormal increase of brain tissue volume by the increase of brain tissue water content. However the etiology is not simple and relating to a wide variety of neurological disorders including ischemia, trauma, tumor, hemorrhage and hydrocephalus. It is still a major cause of death in the neurological/neurosurgical ward. This volume is an up-to-date report on progress in brain edema research, diagnosis and treatment, including papers presented at the 12th International Symposium on Brain Edema and Brain Tissue Injury in 2002. Major topics include molecular biology and blood-brain barrier disorders, ischemic and traumatic brain edema, imaging and diagnosis of brain edema, treatment and radiation effect. Various papers in the rapidly growing fields of neuroimaging and molecular medicine are also included.

The first International Symposium on Brain Edema was organized by Dr. Klatzo and Dr. Seitelberger and held in Vienna in 1965. The second Symposium was held in Mainz in 1972 and organized by Dr. H.J. Reulen and Dr. K. Schiirmann, the third in Montreal in 1976 by Dr. H.M. Pap pius, the fourth in Berlin in 1979 by Dr. J. Cervos-Navarro, and the fifth in Groningen in 1982 by Dr. K.G. Go. This volume contains the papers presented at the 6th International Sym posium on Brain Edema, held in Tokyo, Japan, November 7-10, 1984. The invited lectures by Dr. I. Klatzo, Dr. A. Hirano, Dr. S.I. Rapoport, Dr. B.K. Siesj6, Dr. H.M. Pappi us, Dr. K.A. Hossmann, and Dr. D.M. Long are included as special chapters. On behalf of the organizing committee, I wish to express my deep ap preciation to all the participants for their contribution toward making this meeting so fruitful and significant. Moreover, the great success of this Sym posium depended on the high quality of the invited lectures and presen tations by experts in various fields, as well as on the free and enthusiastic discussion. I was deeply impressed with the papers presented by all the authors, who endeavored to elucidate their subjects. The editors have made only minor corrections and rearrangements, since prompt publi cation was considered to be important.