Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Brain death in the newborn

Journal of Perinatology volume 27, pages S59–S62 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Brain death in the newborn is usually determined by neurological examination, apnea testing and a duration of observation period. In addition, other confirmatory studies such as electroencephalogram and cerebral blood flow are performed to determine the cause of coma. These confirmatory studies are unreliable in the newborn and are helpful only to shorten the duration of observation period if positive. The American Academy of pediatrics ad hoc task force guidelines for the determination of brain death in children did not include preterm infants and term infants less than seven days of age due to lack of available data in this age group. Recent data from organ sharing network suggest that these guidelines could be used in infants less than seven days of age.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Websters' Medical Dictionary, copyright 1986 by Merriam-Webster, Inc..

  2. President's commission for the study of ethical problems in medicine and biomedical and behavioral research. Guidelines for the determination of death: report of the medical consultants on the diagnosis of death. Neurology 1982; 32: 395–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ashwal S . Brain death in the newborn. Clin Perinatol 1997; 24: 859–882.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Farrell MA, Levin DL . Brain death in the pediatric patient: historical, sociological, medical, religious, cultural, legal, and ethical considerations. Crit Care Med 1993; 21: 1951–1965.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ad hoc committee of the Harvard medical school to examine the definition of brain death. A definition of irreversible coma. JAMA 1968; 205: 337–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. An appraisal of the criteria of cerebral death: a summary statement. JAMA 1977; 237: 982–986.

  7. Conference of Royal Colleges and Faculties of the United Kingdom. Diagnosis of brain death. Lancet 1976; 2: 1069–1070.

    Google Scholar 

  8. President's commission for the safety of ethical problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral research. Guidelines for the determination of death. JAMA 1981; 246: 2184–2186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Conference of Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties in the United Kingdom. Memorandum issued by the honorary secretary of the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties in the United Kingdom on 15 January 1979. Br Med J 1979; 1: 332.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ashwal S, Smith AJK, Torres F, Loken M, Chou SN et al. Radionuclide bolus angiography: a technique for verification of brain death in infants and children. J Pediatr 1977; 91: 722–727.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Coker SB, Dillehay GL . Radionuclide cerebral imaging for confirmation of brain death in children: the significance of dural sinus activity. Pediatr Neurol 1986; 2: 43–46.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Brain Death in Children Report of special Task Force. Pediatrics 1987; 80: 298–300.

  13. Ashwal S, Schneider S . Brain death in the newborn. Pediatrics 1989; 84: 429–437.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Ashwal S . Brain death in the newborn. Clin Perinatol. 1989; 16: 501–518.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. al jumah M, McLean DR, al Rajeh S et al. Bulk diffusion apnea test in the diagnosis of brain death. Crit Care Med 1992; 20: 1564–1567.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Outwater KM, Rockoff MA . Apnea testing to confirm brain death in children. Crit Care Med 1984; 12: 357–358.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Rowland TW, Donnelley JH, Jackson AH . Apnea documentation for determination of brain death in children. Pediatrics 1984; 4: 505–508.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ammar A, Awada A, Al-Luwami I . Reversibility of severe brain stem dysfunction in children. Acta Neurochir 1993; 124: 86–91.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Okamoto K, Sugimoto T . Return of spontaneous respiration in an infant who fulfilled current criteria to determine brain death. Pediatrics 1995; 96: 518–520.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Parker BL, Frewen TC, Levin SD, Ramsay DA, Young GB, Reid RH et al. Declaring pediatric brain death: current practice in a Canadian pediatric critical care unit. CMAJ 1995; 153: 909–916.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. American Electroencephalographic Society. Guideline three: minimum technical standards for EEG recording in suspected cerebral death. J Clin Neurophysiol 1994; 11: 10–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. LaMancusa J, Cooper R, Vieth R, Wright F . The effect of falling therapeutic and subtherapeutic barbiturate blood levels on electrocerebral silence in clinically brain-dead children. Clin Electroencephalogr 1991; 22: 112–117.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Ashwal S . Clinical diagnosis and confirmatory tests of brain death in children In: Wijdicks EFM (ed). Brain Death. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: New York, NY, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Ashwal S, Serna-Fonseca T . Brain death in infants and children. Crit Care Nurse 2006; 26: 117–124, 126–128.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. McMenamim JB, Volpe JJ . Doppler ultrasonography in the determination of neonatal brain death. Ann Neurol 1983; 14: 302–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Albertini A, Schonfeld S, Hiatt M, Hegyi Th . Digital subtraction angiography – a new approach to brain death determination in the newborn. Pediatr Radiol 1993; 23: 195–197.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Volpe JJ . Brain death determination in the newborn. Pediatrics 1987; 80: 293–297.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. OU Medical Center, Children's Hospital, Everett Drive, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

    K C Sekar

Authors
  1. K C Sekar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sekar, K. Brain death in the newborn. J Perinatol 27 (Suppl 1), S59–S62 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211718

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211718

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links