Retrospective analysis of patiens with brain death

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to retrospectively analyze brain death cases in the our intensive care units.Methods: We examined archive records of brain death cases diagnosed between January 01, 2014 and October01, 2018. We recorded patients’ demographics (age, gender, place of birth, blood type and diagnosis onadmission), time to the preparation of the report, additional tests performed, rate of organ donation, donor rate,and number of organs removed.Results: A total of 151 brain death cases were detected. Of these, 69 were female. The average age was 53.96± 19.52years. A Rh + was the most common type (39.7%) in blood type analysis. Intracranial hemorrhage wasthe primary reason (54.3%) for admission. Apnea test was performed for 88 patients. Radiological imagingwas used in 129 (85.4%) cases; computed tomography angiography being the most commonly performedmethod with 79 (52.3%) cases. Forty four patients’ families consented to organ donation. Considering the placeof birth for donors, Marmara Region was the leader with 18 (40.9%) donors. Of the 82 brain death casesdiagnosed with intracranial hemorrhage, 35 (42.68%) donated organs and this rate was significantly high (p =0.002). The mean follow-up period for brain death was 1.49 days.Conclusions: Health team is responsible for identifying brain death and shoud be conscious about it, attemptingto increase organ donation. They should act rapidly and avoid wasting time after the diagnosis. Familyinterviews to be conducted by an experienced and trained organ donation coordinator may increase donationsby emphasizing the importance of organ donations. Giving wide media coverage to organ donation may increaseawareness of the community of organ donation.