FIXED R-R INTERVALS IN BRAIN DEATH
Abstract
Diagnosis of brain death is one of the most chal- lenging problems in medical practice. Reliable tests must be used in the assessment of brain death because the diagnosis must be 100 percent cor- rect.
The variation o//t-R inrerva/s in brain death has not been evaluated systematically. In this study, we attempted to find a correlation between the diagnosis of brain death and the variation of R-R intervals. We observed that R-R intervals in our intensive care unit [:›atients were becoming sta- tionary by the time of brain death diagnosis. In our study, electrocardiogram and Hotter recordings were taken for six fiiatients (age: I 6-66 years) with the clinical criteria of brain death. No change in heart rate was observed during carotid massage and anificial ventilation. We suggest that this find- ing, which we have termed “fixation a/ /t-/t inter- vals“, might be useful in eva/eat/ng brainstem damage and in diagnosing brain death.
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References
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