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Analytic Reviews : The Diagnosis of Brain Death in the Adult Patient

Address correspondence to Dr Powner, Critical Care Department, Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Inc., 1701 N Senate Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202

The biological tenet upon which brain death is founded is absolute. The brain's inability to undergo cellular divi sion ensures that once individual neurons die they can not be replaced. Extrapolating this to the total brain, once the entire brain is dead no recovery can occur, and the patient's family can be guaranteed of that fact. The clinician, therefore, is faced primarily with a diagnostic challenge in determining that brain death is indeed pres ent. The components, procedures, and limitations of that diagnostic process in the adult patient are the sub jects of this discussion.

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, Vol. 2, No. 4, 181-189 (1987)
DOI: 10.1177/088506668700200403


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