Abstract
The declaration by a physician of brain death in a person requires a rigorous and exhaustive evaluation, not only of masquerading conditions but also at the same time a differential of the likely causes. Each step in the clinical evaluation and paraclinical ancillary test applications is beset by a number of errors. While using the American Academy of Neurology guidelines, it is important to consider each case individually and adjust the time of declaration of brain death accordingly, as well as the use of one or more ancillary brain death diagnostic tools. The use of diagnostic neuroimaging is evolving and new noninvasive magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging techniques hold promise for assisting in this diagnosis in the future.
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Keller, C.M., Chulpayev, B., Hoffmann, M. (2013). The Determination of Brain Death. In: Novitzky, D., Cooper, D. (eds) The Brain-Dead Organ Donor. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4304-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4304-9_3
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