Abstract
Coma is a relatively common condition in the pediatric intensive care unit. Although the principles of diagnosis and management are basically the same for both children and adults, there are some age-specific aspects related to infants and children under 16 years of age that influences the pediatric intensive care practitioner‘s conduct. Several aspects regarding neuroplasticity, raised intracranial pressure and epileptogenesis in the immature brain are considered in this article. Importantly, the role of new technologies employed for neurophysiologic monitoring is also reviewed. The aim of this article is to evaluate the main issues comprising the comatose state in childhood and their differences from the same condition in adulthood. Several differences in the physiology of immature brains can affect clinical and neurophysiologic expression in a disorder of consciousness and may need special proceedings for its management. Future perspectives in the field are referred in the final part of this article.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.