Mass General neurosurgeons at work

A Dedicated, Specialized Team

Neurology patients requiring 24/7 medical and surgical intensive care receive their care from eight board-certified critical care neurointensivists, a staff of 85 nurses trained in critical care and 10 neurointensivist fellows. They form a multidisciplinary team that also includes:

• Referring, specialist and sub-specialist physicians
• Social workers and psychiatrists
• Physical, occupational and speech therapists
• Respiratory therapists
• Clinical pharmacists
• Clinical nutritionists
• Case managers
• Critical care technicians
• Chaplains

Completing the team are patients and their families, who participate in discussions and decisions around goals, treatment options and plans.

State-of-the-Art Treatment

The Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (Neuro ICU) at Massachusetts General Hospital takes advantage of state-of-the-art technology and other resources to treat patients. We use therapeutic hypothermia, which lowers body temperature to reduce the risk of oxygen-loss brain injury. We are leaders in the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other non-invasive technologies for acute brain injury and the clinical monitoring of patients with brain swelling injuries.

Expanding Knowledge Through Research

In 2011, Mass General introduced the new NeuroICU Acute Brain Injury Research Repository. This data and biospecimen bank, a collection of samples from consenting Neuro ICU patients, will be used to improve and expand knowledge of acute neurological and neurosurgical illness and injury.

Additional research delves into the genetics of neurological disease and how genetic differences may affect therapeutic options, the brain’s response to traumatic injury, and neurology rehabilitation through brain-computer technologies. Members of the nursing staff are preparing a paper on a study of traumatic brain injury from the perspective of the patient’s family.

Extending our Influence

The physicians and staff of the Neuro ICU reach patients beyond the walls of Mass General through programs that connect us to other hospitals and future generations of medical professionals:

• Stroke treatment: We use videoconferencing to consult with 27 New England hospitals
• Organ donation: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded us with a Medal of Honor for our organ donation programs
• Training programs: For future neurointensivists and critical care nurses

Updated 8/14/2012

Aneurysm

An aneurysm is a bulging, weakened area in the wall of a blood vessel resulting in an abnormal widening or ballooning greater than 50 percent of the normal diameter

Stroke

Stroke, also called brain attack, occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted.

The following related clinical trials and research studies are currently seeking participants at Massachusetts General Hospital. Search for clinical trials and studies in another area of interest.

New Mass General Center to Help Speed Development of Neurological Treatments

Mass General received a $20 million grant to establish a nationwide clinical coordinating center for testing drugs that can help people with diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Raising awareness of traumatic brain injury

ONE MOMENT TOM KEARNEY was walking along busy Oxford Street in London, England – the next he was laying on the pavement with a cracked skull, collapsed lungs and blood streaming from his ears and mouth. It was Dec. 18, 2009, and the businessman and Harvard University graduate had just been struck by a 16-ton bus – the impact projecting him 20 feet down the street and leaving him in a near-death coma.

NeuroBlast e-Newsletter

NeuroBlast: the newsletter of translational neuroscience and clinical care advances in neurology, neurosurgery, and neuroscience from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit

Phone: 857-238-5300

Public Transportation Access: yes