Understanding and Managing Autonomic Disorders in the Neurocritical Care Unit: A Comprehensive review

For a favorable outcome, patients admitted to critical care units require continuous monitoring and swift decision-making ability regarding management. One of the biggest challenges in neurocritical care units is the identification and management of autonomic dysfunction and in the worst-case scenario, autonomic storms.

Most of the literature available focuses mainly on autonomic storms following traumatic brain injury. However, due to the myriad neurological presentations in a critical care setting, it is particularly important for physicians and intensivists to suspect and manage autonomic dysfunction in various neurological scenarios.

Understanding the mechanism of paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity (PSH) is essential for early recognition and treatment. PSH-AM is an assessment measurement scale to diagnose and assess the severity of PSH in traumatic brain injury. However, this is not yet standardized across all neurological settings.

We present a comprehensive report on understanding the mechanism of autonomic storms across various neurological disorders and outline the management.