Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 45 No. 4, 2006.
Case report
Transcranial Doppler as a Confirmatory Test in Brain Death
Arijana Lovrenčić-Huzjan
Vlasta Vuković
Krešimir Jergović
Vida Demarin
Abstract
Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of all brain functions, including the brainstem. The diagnosis of brain death allows organ donation or withdrawal of support. Therefore, the exact criteria for the diagnosis should be determined. In the Croatian legal acts on transplantation, repeated neurological examination must show the loss of brainstem reflexes, and one confirmation test has to be done. Several tests are available to show cessation of the brain or brainstem activity, or to confirm the cerebral circulatory arrest. Bedside evaluation is preferred, with the use of neurosonologic tests that show a high resistance pattern in hemodynamics, in parallel with the increase of intracranial pressure, eventually leading to cerebral circulatory arrest. Trained personnel and strict protocols are required. Bedside transcranial Doppler is presented along with the criteria and its value in brain death confirmation.
Keywords
Brain death - ultrasonography; Brain death - diagnosis; Brain death - physiopathology; Ultrasonography, Doppler - transcranial
Hrčak ID:
14077
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2006.
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