Diffuse experimental brain injury: Methods, histological findings, and changes in intracranial pressure and blood pressure

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This paper deals with the effects of a diffuse experimental brain injury in the rabbit. The injury was induced by injecting a small amount of olive oil into one internal carotid artery. Out of 27 experimental animals 12 died from the injury after a mean interval of 62 minutes; the remainder survived for at least this period with little or no rise in intracranial pressure. The animals which died from injury had a confluens sinuum pressure of 73 mm Hg and a confluens sinuum/arterial blood pressure ratio of 0.68. This ratio is higher than that seen after a severe local cold injury, but lower than that seen in connexion with hydrostatically raised intracranial pressure. These findings support the view that a large local injury reduces the power of the brain to withstand raised intracranial pressure, and that scattered small lesions are less detrimental than one large one. The confluens sinuum pressures recorded tally well with clinically recorded pressures. It may be assumed that this type of experimental injury resembles severe clinical injuries—brain contusions—to a considerable extent.