Surgery | Common Surgical Conditions | Neurology & Neurosurgery: Coma

Neurology & Neurosurgery: Coma
Session Overview
Description
This session outlines the diagnosis and management of traumatic and non-traumatic CNS aetiologies and extracranial aetiologies of coma and the principles of assessment of brain stem death and understand its relevance to continued life support and organ donation.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Discuss unconsciousness and coma and identify the clinical signs
• Construct a differential diagnosis of a comatose patient
• Recall intracranial physiology and apply this knowledge
• Demonstrate safe management of a severe head injury
• Discuss brainstem testing

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should:

• Be familiar with ATLS

This session attempts to deconstruct the clinical entity of coma into it constituent components.

The aims are to give solid grounding into the fundamental components of anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology that are key to the investigation and management of patents with neurological disease. These concepts are also key for surgical exams and encompass all of the current MRCS Eng curriculum.

The session are structured in case-based format with clinical presentation being the lead in to the theory, with reference to specific neurological assessment and management steps for each condition.