What Is Brain Death?

Death is a natural phenomenon, that is, living things lose their lives. It is the inevitable destination for the development of all living organisms. With the development of medical technology, patients' heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure and other vital signs can be reversed or maintained for a long time through a series of drugs and advanced equipment. And brain death is the irreversible termination of brain function including brainstem function. The respiratory center of the human body is located in the brainstem. If the brainstem is structurally damaged, it will directly lead to the cessation of respiratory function. No matter what medical measures are taken, the patient's life cannot be saved. Therefore, compared with heart death, brain death appears more scientific, and the standards are more reliable and standardized.

• latest news

2019-12-02 08:12 Macron's "humiliated" French begging to say 2019-12-02 08:12

On the 29th, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Turkish ambassador to make an "unacceptable" remark on the Turkish president and asked the Turkish side to "give an explanation". ... Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech earlier in the day: "I now tell French President Emmanuel Macron, and I will say so at NATO, first go Check if you are brain dead. "Erdogan questioned:" Will you leave Turkey out of NATO, is it up to you? Do you have the power to make decisions? " ... Details

related news

Content from

Basic Information

Chinese name

brain death

Foreign name

Death of brain

Diagnosis

EEG, cranial Doppler, somatosensory evoked potential

Brain death judgment criteria

International judgment standard

In 1968, the ad hoc committee of Harvard Medical School re-explained the concept of brain death and formulated the first human brain death determination criteria: irreversible deep coma; no spontaneous breathing; disappearance of brain stem reflexes; disappearance of brain electrical activity (electrostatic) interest). Anyone who meets the above criteria and repeats the test within 24 to 72 hours without any change in the results can declare death.

2. Chinese judgment standards

The clinical diagnosis of brain death includes deep coma, spontaneous respiratory arrest, and disappearance of brain stem reflex. All three of the above conditions must be met at the same time, and the cause of coma must be clear, and reversible coma for various reasons must be excluded.

Clinical significance of brain death

1. More scientifically determine human death

The brain is the carrier of human thinking. After the death of the brain, the consciousness and self-consciousness, which are the essential characteristics of humans, have been lost, and no meaningful living individual exists. Therefore, in determining death, brain death is more in line with the state of life.

2. Conducive to organ transplantation

The difficulty of donor source is the main reason for the current confused organ transplantation work. Brain-dead organs are the best organ transplant donors, because the transplanted organs must be removed from the donor when there is blood supply, so it is ideal to remove the transplanted organs with blood pressure before the heartbeat stops after brain death. , High survival rate. The development of organ transplantation depends to a large extent on the provision of organs by patients with brain death.

3. Reduce the burden on society and the family

According to rough statistics, the cost of ICU (intensive care unit) patients is four times that of ordinary patients, and in ICU, the cost of rescuing patients who have died of ineffectiveness is twice that of those who survive. This meaningless rescue and comfort treatment after brain death will bring a heavy economic burden to the family and also cause a lot of waste of medical resources. Therefore, it is not worth the huge human and material resources to rescue a brain-dead patient.

Brain death identification

Brain death is different from "vegetatives". The "vegetative" brainstem function exists. The coma is only due to severe damage to the cerebral cortex or a state of sudden suppression. Patients can have spontaneous breathing, heartbeat, and brainstem responses; brain death is involuntary breathing, a permanent, irreversible loss.