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A Hazard in Brain-Death Certification

David J. Powner, MD

JAMA. 1976;236(10):1123.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

AN ISOELECTRIC EEG is often regarded as the definitive feature of death. However, some pharmaceuticals have been reported to be associated with an isoelectric EEG in patients who subsequently showed neurologic and EEG improvement. A literature review was conducted to identify such agents. This information is of importance in the care of patients with undiagnosed coma or drug overdose who may be candidates for organ donation if true "brain death" can be certified.

Some agents were found to produce only relatively short periods of cerebral silence but are included here because of the inherent tragedy of a "false-positive" brain-death evaluation. Those drugs previously reported to be associated with isoelectric periods of any duration include the following: barbiturates,^1-7 methaqualone,^1,6,7 diazepam,¹ mecloqualone,¹ meprobamate,^1,3 and trichloroethylene.^1,8

Other drugs commonly ingested in toxic quantities but not found to produce an isoelectric EEG as a primary drug effect are . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Pittsburgh

From the Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology/CCM, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh.

Footnotes
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