Increased intracranial pressure and its systemic effects.

The brain is capable of mediating complex regulatory functions in the cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal systems. Increased intracranial pressure may have detrimental effects not only upon cerebral structure and function but also upon the cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal systems. Although the manifestations of systemic dysfunction produced by cerebral disease have been defined, the precise role of the interaction and interrelationship of increased intracranial pressure and the nervous system pathways to specific organ systems in delineating the mechanisms of these manifestations continues to be a topic of inquiry.