Brain Death
Conditions
Keywords
Brain Death, Neurological Death, Cerebral circulatory arrest, Computed Tomography Angiography
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability of computed tomography angiography (CTA) to diagnose brain death, face of several conditions that make impossible to define such diagnosis using clinical criteria exclusively.
Detailed description
Critically ill patients, presenting Glasgow Coma Score 5 or lower, will be submitted to the Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) of the skull assessment, and follow a clinical evaluation for brain death, additionally, transcranial Doppler would be applied as the gold standard for brain death. We will exclude patients whose do not can be submitted to contrast injection, or if a brain death clinical evaluation has been performed prior the CTA.
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
University of Sao Paulo
Sergio Brasil, MD MSc
Study design
Observational model
CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Individuals of any age or sex with brain death suspicion raised, before clinical test. * Comatose patients presenting Glasgow Coma Score as or under 5 points, under sedative agents or not.
Exclusion criteria
* Brain dead patients clinically confirmed. * Contraindications to the use of contrast medium (renal failure or allergy).
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Assess the presence or absence of contrast medium filling of the intracranial vessels in comatose patients. | 1 year | After excluding confounding factors, we will submit comatose patients to CTA. Immediately after the exam, we will perform clinical evaluation for brain death and calculate CTA sensibility and specificity for this diagnosis. Time between these two interventions will be measured. |
Countries
Brazil
Outcome results
None listed