Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie
-
Multicenter Study
Potential organ donors referred to Ontario neurosurgical centres.
Eleven hospitals in Ontario are adult neurosurgical centres (ONCs). Patients transferred to ONCs from community hospitals with acute intracranial emergencies often have non-survivable injuries, and may be returned to the referring hospital for end-of-life care. These referring hospitals may not be familiar with neurological determination of death, or organ donation. Our objective was to determine the number of patients with severe brain injuries assessed in ONC emergency departments where progression to brain death may be reasonably expected, and to determine their outcome. ⋯ A significant number of patients transferred to ONCs have an injury with a likelihood of progressing to brain death, but only a small proportion of these patients become organ donors. Emergency department triage, assessment and admission decisions for patients with intracranial catastrophes should consider diagnostic criteria for brain death and recognition of donor potential as part of end-of-life care.