Evaluation of Cerebral Blood Flow and Brain Metabolism in the Intensive Care Unit

The imbalance between oxygen supply to the brain tissue and its utilization, that is, brain tissue hypoxia, is considered the major cause for the development of secondary brain damage and hence poor neurological outcome [1, 2]. This phenomenon develops hours after the initial insult, e.g., trauma, stroke, intracerebral hematoma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Therefore, improving brain oxygenation after severe brain injury is the focus of modern management in the intensive care unit (ICU). It relies upon a multimodal approach of monitoring that includes assessments of brain perfusion and metabolism at the bedside and during imaging modalities.