Book excerpt: Neurocritical Care Pharmacotherapy: A Clinican's Guide is a practical, succinct but comprehensive pharmacy handbook provides up-to-date clinical guidance on the effective selection, prescription, and usage of neurocritical care drugs for patients with acute neurologic illnesses. The treatment of the critically ill neurologic patient is often difficult, specialized, and includes drugs infrequently used in other intensive care units such as antiepileptic drugs, osmotic agents or acute immunotherapy such as intravenous immunoglobulin and plasma exchange. This text discusses choosing the right combination of drugs; how to correctly prescribe and administer the drugs; how to monitor drug efficacy and side effects; how neurocritical care drugs interact with other medications; and comprehensive coverage of current treatment options. Key Feature of this Manual Include - A brief discussion of the basic pharmacology of each neurocritical drug, with an emphasis on how to select and use these drugs in multiple clinical contexts. - 150 drugs accompanied by a diagram for quick comprehension and drug administration guides. - Unique blending of expertise of neurointensivist with a critical care pharmacist to provide a vital resource for both specialities - References for further reading that are oriented toward utility in clinical practice.