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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Clearance of Edema Fluid into Cerebrospinal Fluid

subject

description

The formation of cerebral edema appears to be the response of the brain to injury from a diversity of causes, in association with tumors, trauma, and infections, as well as toxic, anoxic, and metabolic disorders. The classification by Klatzo14 of cerebral edema into two major categories, vasogenic edema and cytotoxic edema, has clarified our understanding of this pathological problem. A third category has been termed interstitial 10 or hydrocephalic 17 edema. The various processes are not mutually exclusive. In ischemic brain edema, changes characteristic of vasogenic and cytotoxic cerebral edema occur, and in subarachnoid hemorrhage, all three types of edematous changes may develop. Nevertheless, the classification is useful in clarifying the pathogenesis of the encephalopathy associated with various forms of brain edema. In vasogenic brain edema (VBE), the essential event is the injury to cerebral vessels, resulting in an increased cerebrovascular permeability allowing escape of serum constituents into the surrounding extracellular space under the hydrostatic pressure of the systemic circulation.