These new guidelines provide important updates that all clinicians involved in the determination of brain death/death by neurologic criteria should know.
Sponsoring Organization: American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Academy of Pediatrics, Child Neurology Society, and Society of Critical Care MedicineBackground and Objective
Passage of the Uniform Determination of Death Act in 1981 led to diagnosis of brain death/death by neurologic criteria (BD/DNC) having legal equivalence with cardiac death in all states. These recommendations, updated from 2010, have the overarching goal of ensuring that BD/DNC determination is a conservative process that minimize the risk for false-positive BD/DNC diagnosis.
Key Points
Given the lack of high-quality clinical evidence to guide BD/DNC determination, guideline development was performed via a formal consensus process following a detailed literature rev…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNational Football League
RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.
Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health
Editorial BoardsNeurocritical Care
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNational Football League
RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.
Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health
Editorial BoardsNeurocritical Care