Dominate the NCLEX ICP Exam 2026 – Elevate Your Nursing Game!

The key idea is that with a unilateral mass and rising ICP, brain tissue can be pushed under the falx cerebri toward the opposite side. When the left cerebral cortex bleeds and mass effect drives the cingulate gyrus under the falx toward the right hemisphere, this is called a cingulate (subfalcine) herniation. The falx acts as a partition between the two hemispheres, so this pattern of displacement is distinct from other herniations. It’s not uncal herniation, which involves the medial temporal lobe moving through the tentorial notch and affects the oculomotor nerve, or transtentorial patterns that compress brainstem structures. In this scenario, the tissue shifts beneath the falx toward the opposite side, naming it cingulate (subfalcine) herniation.