Diagnosis of brain death

Abstract

The diagnosis of brain death is based on a series of clinical elements, while forensic confirmation relies on paraclinical investigations to reinforce the clinical diagnosis. The transition to a state of cephalic death occurs in a well- defined clinical context, and is most likely to occur in patients suffering from cerebral vascular accident, head trauma or post-anoxic encephalopathy. As a result, the incidence of cephalic death is higher in neuro-resuscitation.                                                                                                       The intensive care physician must be able to make this diagnosis, and then ensure the resuscitation of the brain-dead donor to guarantee the quality of the grafts, since it is from this donor that multi-organ harvesting can be carried out. The brain- dead donor is an unavoidable solution for obtaining transplants, given the limited number of transplants available and the consequent long waiting lists for organ failure patients.

Key words: Brain death, clinical diagnosis, paraclinical confirmation, cerebrospinal cord injury.