Colloid Volume Expansion and Brain Edema

Fluid management in the neurosurgery patient with brain edema can be quite difficult because of the risk of aggravating the edema and producing intracranial pressure (ICP) problems. In such situations, we have found colloid agents to be safer than crystalloid solutions. We report two experiments in which we studied fluid administration in animals with vasogenic brain edema. In Experiment 1, the effects of crystalloid and colloidal volume expansion on ICP and computerized EEG data are studied, and in Experiment 2, the effect of colloid volume expansion on local cerebral blood flow (CBF) and computerized EEG data are reported.