Acute intraoperative ischaemic cerebral oedema following torrential haemorrhage from the left intracranial internal carotid artery occurred during resection of a recurrent middle cranial fossa meningioma. A series of immediate anaesthetic interventions was effective in reducing brain oedema, allowed for surgical haemostasis, and resulted in no permanent sequelae to patient outcome. A review of the literature indicates that direct evidence for the efficacy of extremely early interventions as described in this case report is lacking and must be extrapolated from other brain injury models.