When dealing with neurological disorders, clinical examination is still paramount but many critical care patients will be sedated and/or paralyzed, rendering clinical assessment impossible. To help assessing sedated neuro critical care patients, neuro-imaging is crucial, as they are both diagnostic and prognostic tools. 

The Most common neuro-imaging techniques are computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and optic nerve sheath measurement. Computed tomography (CT) is used in acute settings to detect intracranial bleeding, hydrocephalus or cerebral oedema. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has increased anatomical resolution that could help clinicians detecting small zones of infarction or haemorrhage and evaluating the integrity of white matter. Optic nerve sheath measurement has been used as a non-invasive marker of increased intracranial pressure, which can be measured on CT, MRI or by ultrasound.