Brain death (BD) should be understood as the ultimate clinical expression of a brain catastrophe characterized by a complete and irreversible neurological stoppage, recognized by irreversible coma, absent brainstem reflexes, and apnea. The most common pattern is manifested by an elevation of intracranial pressure to a point beyond the mean arterial pressure, and hence cerebral perfusion pressur...

The author, a philosopher, suggests that the concept of death should be left as it is 'in its present indeterminate state', and that we ought to reject attempts to define death in terms of whole-brain death or any other type of brain death, including cerebral death and 'irreversible coma'. Instead of 'fiddling with the definition of death' clear rules should be established specifying 'what can ...

The publicity surrounding the recent McMath and Muñoz cases has rekindled public interest in brain death: the familiar term for human death determination by showing the irreversible cessation of clinical brain functions. The concept of brain death was developed decades ago to permit withdrawal of therapy in hopeless cases and to permit organ donation. It has become widely established medical pr...

objective(s):melatonin is known as an anti-inflammatory agent, and it has been proven to exert neuroprotection through inhibition of cell death (apoptosis) in several models of brain injury.secondary injury following the primary traumatic brain injury (tbi) results in glial cells activation, especially astrocytes. in fact, astrocyte activation causes the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines...

Results: There were 228 patients who were pronounced brain dead, mostly after traumatic brain injury, cerebral hematoma, or aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Brain death was declared within 24 hours of ictus in 30% of the patients and within 3 days in 62%. All patients were using one or more vasopressors, and 61% of the patients received vasopressin for diabetes insipidus. An apnea test could...

OBJECTIVES Brain death is the colloquial name for human death determined by tests showing irreversible cessation of the clinical functions of the brain. Spontaneous and reflex movements have been described in brain death. The aim of this report is to describe a brain-dead patient with unusual motor movements. DESIGN AND SETTING The patient was followed and her motor movements were videotaped....

All topics are updated as new evidence becomes available and our peer review process is complete. Disclosures INTRODUCTION — Death is an irreversible, biological event that consists of permanent cessation of the critical functions of the organism as a whole [1]. This concept allows for survival of tissues in isolation, but it requires the loss of integrated function of various organ systems. De...