Nō to shinkei = Brain and nerve
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We experienced 11 cases of brain death for the past two years, in six of whom we performed the apnea test to confirm the cessation of the medullary respiratory functions. The cause of brain death was primary intracranial lesions in four, subarachnoidal hemorrhages in three and meningitis in one. Hypoxia of the brain secondary to cardiac arrest resulted brain death in the remaining two cases. ⋯ The pH and PaCO2 did not change significantly after pre-oxygenation and after adjusting of PaCO2. Only the PaO2 increased significantly after preoxygenation. PaCO2 increased with the rate of 3.04 +/- 1.2 mmHg/min up to 73.4 +/- 15.6 mmHg and pH decreased with the rate of 0.016 +/- 0.007 down to 7.1 +/- 0.03 after disconnection from the respirator.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)