• Joanna Solek-Pastuszka, Jowita Biernawska, Waldemar Iwańczuk, Klaudyna Kojder, Kornel Chelstowski, Romuald Bohatyrewicz, and Marcin Sawicki.
• Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Unii Lubelskiej 1, 71-252, Szczecin, Poland.
• Neurocrit Care. 2019 Apr 1; 30 (2): 348354348-354.

IntroductionDeterioration of the pulmonary function after the apnea test (AT) conducted with the classic oxygen insufflation AT (I-AT) is often observed during the brain death (BD) diagnosis procedure. In the present study, two AT methods were compared before a method is recommended for the currently revised Polish BD criteria.MethodsClassic I-AT and continuous positive airway pressure AT (CPAP-AT) were performed in 60 intensive care unit patients. I-AT was performed at the end of two series of clinical tests, and approximately 1-1.5 h later, after BD was confirmed, a different method, CPAP-AT with 100% FiO2 and CPAP value of 10 cm H2O provided by a ventilator in CPAP mode was performed. The patients in I-AT and CPAP-AT groups were further divided into two subgroups: non-hypoxemic (NH) with good lung function before AT (PaO2/FiO2 index ≥ 200 mmHg) and hypoxemic (H) with poor lung function (PaO2/FiO2 index < 200 mmHg). PaO2 and PaCO2 were recorded prior to I-AT and CPAP-AT at time-point one (T1), 5 min after each test at time-point two (T2), and after 10 min prior to the end of tests at time-point three (T3). The I-AT NH subgroup consisted of 50 patients, and CPAP-AT NH subgroup 43 patients. The I-AT H subgroup consisted of 10 patients, and the CPAP-AT H subgroup 17 patients.ResultsIn the I-AT NH subgroup, a gradual decrease in PaO2/FiO2 was observed throughout the AT but not in the CPAP-AT NH subgroup. The PaO2/FiO2 ratio during the AT in the CPAP-AT H group was stable with a slight tendency to increase but not in the I-AT H group. During the first 5 min of the AT, the mean increase in CO2 was approximately 5 mmHg/min. Most patients in all groups met the AT criteria after 5 min of the test.ConclusionsThe results from the study show that I-AT may compromise pulmonary function in some cases and is one of the reasons for the recommendation of a safer option, CPAP-AT, in the currently revised Polish BD criteria. During AT, the mean CO2 increase rate was 5 mmHg/min, which, in most patients, would allow the test to be completed after just 5 min.

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