HOW TO IDENTIFY THE BRAIN-DEAD PATIENT AND PRESERVE THE ORGANS TO BE DONATED?

It is of vital importance to establish an acceptable method of rapidly and accurately determining brain death (BD) in potential donors. The prerequisites viewed as sine qua non in the diagnosis of BD are the clinical diagnosis of deep coma, loss of all brainstem reflexes, and apnea.

Cardiorespiratory and metabolic disorders prompt close monitoring and expedient management. Drug and fluid resuscitation in the patient have firm limits and guidelines that are of great importance to retrieval and transplant teams, and most of all, the recipient of the optimally perfused organ. The management of potential brain-dead donor is a complex process and viable only with the dedication of an organized team approach to the clinical care. This manuscript encompasses an overview of donor evaluation and critical care principles undertaken to optimize hemodynamic status and visceral organ function preceding and following brain death.