Time for determining the diagnosis of brain death and its relation to organ donation

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the time needed for confirmation of brain death and its relation to organ donation. Quantitative, descriptive and retrospective study with 175 patients who had diagnosis of brain death completed between january and december 2013. The time from 11 to 20 hours (38.9%) prevailed, with average of 17.91 hours (SD 17.53). There was significant association between the finding of brain death diagnosis in less than 20 hours and the number of donated livers (P = 0.041). We stress the importance of speeding up the diagnosis of brain death as an important step of the donation process, in order to contribute to realization of transplants.