What are the symptoms of cerebral edema?

Cerebral edema is a common clinical disease, which has a great impact on the patient's body. Many people do not understand the symptoms of cerebral edema. Generally speaking, there are several types of symptoms of cerebral edema. There may also be some symptoms in the nervous system, such as headaches.

1. Symptoms of cerebral edema are generally epilepsy, headache, fever, high intracranial pressure, etc. It is recommended to go to the hospital for neurosurgery for examination and treatment. Cerebral edema refers to the pathological phenomenon of increased water content in the brain, which leads to an increase in brain volume. It is the reaction of brain tissue to various pathogenic factors. It can cause intracranial hypertension and damage brain tissue. It is common in neurological diseases such as craniocerebral trauma, intracranial infection (encephalitis, meningitis, etc.), cerebrovascular disease, intracranial space-occupying disease (such as tumor), epileptic seizures and systemic diseases such as toxic dysentery and severe pneumonia.

2. The clinical manifestations of cerebral edema are non-specific and are often confused or overlapped with the primary disease. The main clinical manifestation is increased intracranial pressure. Increased intracranial pressure often overlaps with the manifestations of the primary disease, but is often more important and prominent than the symptoms of the primary disease. The three main signs of increased intracranial pressure (headache, vomiting, and papilledema) may not all be present. If the infant's cranial sutures are not closed and there is a fontanelle, the intracranial pressure can be relieved; in the elderly, the symptoms are not obvious due to brain atrophy and the increase in the physiological space in the cranial cavity. Severe headaches often occur when there is a sudden rise or fall in intracranial pressure or a change in head position. Infants and young children will not complain when they have a headache and often become agitated or bang their heads with their hands. Newborns and infants may show brain screaming, closed eyes and insomnia, and a tense and bulging anterior fontanelle. Because the disorder of consciousness develops rapidly and they soon fall into a coma, frequent vomiting is rare.

3. As the disorder of consciousness develops, the complexion becomes gray and pale, which is related to the compression of the hypothalamic autonomic nerve center. Convulsions and increased muscle tone may also occur. Stimulation of the vasomotor center may cause compensatory increase in blood pressure, and worsening cerebral edema or brain herniation may lead to brainstem dysfunction. In acute cases, papilledema may not be present because it takes time to develop. The most common manifestation of cerebral edema is a sudden aggravation of the symptoms of the primary neurological disease or an accelerated progression of the disease. If the primary disease is not a neurological disease, neurological symptoms often appear at this time, especially symptoms of increased intracranial pressure and impaired consciousness.