Nagoya journal of medical science
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A clinico-neuropathological study was conducted on 60 cases of brain death, 36 males and 24 females, ranging in age from 11 to 81 years, the average being 49.4 years. Of these, 29 patients died of cerebrovascular disease. The average duration of brain death was 99 hours. ⋯ Autolysis in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, tegmentum of the brain stem, cerebellar granular layer and pituitary gland was most prominent. However, neuropathological diagnosis of underlying diseases could be made even in brain death. Histologically, the cases of brain death differed from those of cardiac arrest-induced encephalopathy and from those of long postmortem autopsy.