List 4 clinical signs of intracranial hypertension.

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College Answer

List 4 clinical signs of intracranial hypertension.

•    Unilateral or bilateral papilledema
•    Unilateral or bilateral papillary dilatation
•    Impaired conscious state
•     Bradycardia

Discussion

Little can be added to this answer.

In the section on the methods of monitoring intracranial pressure, one can find this table:

Clinical Intracranial Pressure Monitoring

These are the clinical features of increasing intracranial pressure:

Cardinal features:

  • Decreased level of consciousness
  • Bradycardia and hypertension
  • Papilloedema
  • Unilateral or bilateral pupil dilatation

Associated features:

  • Headache and vomiting
  • Seizures
  • ST segment changes, T wave inversion
  • QT prolongation
 

There, one can also find extensive digressions on the advantages and disadvantages of using these clinical signs instead of waveform-generating piezoelectric devices.

However, the college did not ask for that.