Characteristics of Patients Diagnosed as Brain Death in Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital

Objective: The aim was to examine the characteristics of brain death cases detected in the intensive care unit of our hospital in the last 12 years, respectively.

Methods: In this study, archive records of cases diagnosed with brain death in an intensive care unit between January 1, 2011, and December 1, 2022, were examined. Demographic characteristics, hospitalization diagnoses, time until apnea test and cardiac arrest, supporting tests used in diagnosis, acceptance rates of organ donation by families, transplanted organs, and blood groups of patients were recorded.

Results: Thirty-five cases diagnosed with brain death were included in the study. The most common diagnosis among these patients was intracranial hemorrhage (68%) at initial admission. The apnea test was completed in 94.7% of the patients, and radiological imaging methods were used to support the diagnosis of brain death in 62.9% of the patients. Anesthesiology and reanimation specialists had taken part in all diagnoses. The mean timespan from hospitalization to the apnea test was 5.94 ± 3.07 days. The timespan for the diagnosis of brain death was 6.17 ± 3.02 days. A total of 22.8% of the cases were organ donors. The liver was the most often donated organ (49%).

Conclusion: Revealing the characteristics of patients diagnosed with brain death will inform us about which patient groups can be donor candidates. Thus, the number of donor organs from cadavers will be increased.

Cite this article as: Ölmeztürk Karakurt TC, Kutluer Karaca N. Characteristics of patients diagnosed as brain death in intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital. Arch Basic Clin Res. 2024;6(2):101-106.