The Cushing reflex is a physiological response of the nervous system to an acute increase in intracranial pressure (ICP), which leads to the Cushing triad of increased pulse pressure (systolic rising, diastolic falling), bradycardia, and irregular breathing[^2]. The reflex serves to maintain cerebral perfusion at elevated intracranial pressure.
Historical
The association was described in 1901 by the American neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing. However, similar experiments had been conducted decades earlier by other scientists such as Paul Cramer, Ernst von Bergmann, Ernst von Leyden, Georg Althann, Friedrich Jolly, Friedrich Pagenstecher, Henri Duret, Bernard Naunyn, and Julius Schreiber. Initially, Cushing failed to cite the work of his predecessors. Nevertheless, Cushing examined the brain's response to compression more closely than previous researchers and offered a better explanation for the pathophysiology of the phenomenon named after him[^1].