Emergency Care of Children with High-Technology Neurologic Disorders

As technology increases, so does our ability to provide sophisticated medical devices to patients to sustain a certain level of quality of life, and in some cases, to sustain life itself. One area of medicine that has seen large leaps in technology is within the neurologic sciences. Today's patients are becoming more and more complex with many patients, including children, having high-technology devices placed. This article specifically addresses these patients, in particular, children with hydrocephalus, increased intracranial pressure, ventriculoperitoneal shunts, seizures, developmental delay, cerebral palsy and subsequent spasticity, and baclofen pumps. In this article, you will learn straightforward approaches to managing these complex children from the first responder's initial assessment in the field all the way to the emergency physician. Placed throughout are clinical vignettes to try and demonstrate real-world application.