Early detection of brain damage in emergency department and the organ donation process: a case series

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 4, 411 - 415, 04.10.2018

İskender Aksoy , Mehtap Pehlivanlar Küçük Çağatay Erman Öztürk Ahmet Baydın

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.377090

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Brain
death is defined as the irreversible loss of brain function following various
pathophysiological changes. In many countries, the brain death diagnosis is
carried out in conjunction with organ transplant programs. In Turkey, at third
level health institutions in particular, healthcare units established entities
that follow similar procedures. The increased number of patients waiting for organs
and donor discovery studies have enhanced the public’s interest in this topic.
Since the emergency department is usually the first line in admitting patients,
its staff must have the firsthand knowledge of managing brain death and organ
donation process. In this article, we present three clinical cases that we
followed and diagnosed with brain death in our emergency department. Due to the
lack of studies addressing brain death procedures in the emergency service, we
believe that this report will greatly contribute to our awareness and handling
of brain death treatment. 

Keywords

Brain death, emergency medicine, organ donation

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