Effects of Head-of-Bed on Intracranial Pressure

The optimal positioning of the head-of-bed (HOB) has remained controversial in the neurosurgical field. Very limited data exists outlining the effects of HOB positioning in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients. One study by Schulz-Stubner and Thiex assess the effects of HOB positioning in SAH and traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. While this study offers some valuable insight into the changes in cerebral hemodynamics seen when the HOB changes, it congregates data from two very different pathologies. This could potentially misrepresent the true effects patients experience. A study by Kung et al. assesses cerebral blood flow dynamics and HOB changes in the setting of SAH but does not evaluate the effects on intracranial pressure (ICP) (Kung, et al., 2013). There appear to be no studies which evaluate the effect of HOB positioning on ICP in patients with SAH. No current data exists to determine if dependent leg positioning would help to further lower ICP. Theoretically, placing a patient's legs in a dependent position would lead to increased venous pooling of blood in the legs which might translate to lower ICP.