Summary
Ever since transplant surgery became a common procedure, the early diagnosis of irreversible cessation of cerebral function has become an important need.
We made a comparative study of EEG, angiography and transcranial Doppler imaging in patients who fulfilled the clinical criteria for brain death. The imaging was performed with a 2 MHz pulsed Doppler system with a unique transcranial probe (EME, type TC2-64B).
Intracranial reverberating flow patterns with counterbalancing forward and backward components of the blood column indicate flow arrest.
Transcranial Doppler Sonography was found to be a practical, non invasive, early and reliable method for the diagnosis of arrest of the cerebral circulation.
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Van Velthoven, V., Calliauw, L. Diagnosis of brain death. Transcranial Doppler sonography as an additional method. Acta neurochir 95, 57–60 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01793084
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01793084