[Increased intracranial pressure--neurosurgical treatment]

The therapy of choice in increased intracranial pressure remains causal, involving extirpation of space-occupying lesions in particular. It is vital to operate early, especially in the case of benign lesions in a good location even if such lesions have not yet caused manifest clinical symptoms. It is precisely in such circumstances that decompensation should not be awaited. Where causal therapy proves impossible, symptomatic measures such as shunt procedures or decompression surgery may be useful. Nowadays the technique of permanent intracranial pressure measurement enables brain edema to be treated in a better and more differentiated manner.