Diagnosis of brain death in the admission department of the Neurologic Clinic of Erlangen University from 1984 to 1994

Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
J G HeckmannB Neundörfer

Abstract

The reliable diagnosis of brain death is a precondition of organ removal for subsequent transplantation. As demographic data, information on the underlying cause and written consent to organ removal from brain-dead patients are largely unknown; protocols relating to the determination of brain death were analysed to obtain these data. The study was based on an examination of the protocols of 547 consecutive and unselected patients who between 1984 and 1994 had been examined for possible brain death by experienced members of the Neurological Department of Erlangen University, in consequence of the establishment of a consultation service for this purpose to hospitals in the region of North Bavaria. The criteria of brain death were those established by the Federal German Doctors' Chamber, all the data in the written protocol being analysed retrospectively. Brain death was confirmed in 521 patients (319 males, 202 females; mean age 40.1 [1.5 - 84] years). 473 patients (86.5%) had been examined at the Erlangen University Clinic or the Municipal Hospital in Nuremberg, the remainder in regional hospitals. The most common causes were trauma to the head/brain (43.5%), subarachnoid haemorrhage (18.6%), generalised hypoxaemia (9.5%), cereb...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 16, 2014·Der Nervenarzt·O Hoffmann, F Masuhr

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