Lundberg and his Waves

Abstract

This historical vignette revisits the main contributions by Nils Lundberg, a neurosurgeon, that were published in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Lundberg studies also definitively established that symptoms of abnormal brainstem function resulted from abnormal intracranial pressure (ICP), and moreover, even variations in ICP could produce clinical symptoms. The most innovative result of continuous monitoring was the discovery of plateau-shaped waves that produced paradoxical symptoms previously designated as “decerebrate” and “tonic fits” or “acute coning.”