[Primary extinct evoked cerebral potentials in the diagnosis of brain death]

In a collective of 82 patients with the clinical signs of brain death and examination of evoked cerebral potentials the incidence of primary abolished evoked potentials was studied. The initial examination occurred at the same time after onset of disease in both groups. We found a marked correlation with the clinical course of the patients. Whereas the group with primary loss of evoked potentials mainly contained patients with intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhages and short survival times, the other group with primary preserved evoked potentials showed a high rate of ischemic infarctions and longer survival periods. The rate of primary abolished evoked potentials can be lowered only by routine examination at the earliest time possible. Outside of neurological intensive care units the early examination of evoked potentials is hardly possible. In these units, the EEG remains the technical examination of choice in the confirmation of brain death.