Some fundamental applications of the Law of La Place in Neurosurgery

The Law of La Place is a simple principle of physics, applicable to any fluid-filled vessel, relating stress on the wall of the vessel to the radius and transmural pressure. This principle has major implications for neurosurgery and examples are provided relating La Place's Principle to the genesis and treatment of hydrocephalus, the surgical clipping of cerebral aneurysms and the technic of surgical sponge hemostatis.