Critical care clinics
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Critical care clinics · Oct 2014
ReviewBrain Death and Management of a Potential Organ Donor in the Intensive Care Unit.
The concept of brain death developed with the advent of mechanical ventilation, and guidelines for determining brain death have been refined over time. Organ donation after brain death is a common source of transplant organs in Western countries. ⋯ Management of potential organ donors must take into consideration specific pathophysiologic changes for medical optimization. Future aims in intensive and neurocritical care medicine must include reducing practice variability in the operational guidelines for brain death determination, as well as improving communication with families about the process of determining brain death.