The Monroe-Kellie doctrine states that the skull is a fixed and inelastic space and the accumulation of edema will compress vital brain tissue and blood vessels. Surgical treatment of cerebral edema in the context of cerebellar or cerebral infarction is typically done by removing part of the skull to allow expansion of the dura. This will help to reduce the volume constraints inside of the skull. A decompressive hemicraniectomy is the most commonly used procedure. Multiple randomized clinical trials have shown reduced risk of death with hemicraniectomy compared with medical management. However, no individual study has shown an improvement in the percentage of survivors with good functional outcomes.