[Revised act on organ transplantation from the neurological viewpoint]

A key purpose of the revised act on organ transplantation is to accept brain death as a person's death in a generic sense for the purpose of increasing the number of organ transplants from brain-dead donors, allowing priority organ donation to relatives, and allowing organ transplants from children aged 15 years or older and a person of any age with the approval of family members. Since the current law, enacted in June 1997, was implemented in October 1997, far fewer organs, including hearts, livers, and kidneys, have been transplanted in Japan than the corresponding number of organs transplanted abroad. This situation is also caused by a lack of the knowledge regarding brain death among neurologists as well as a lack of skill among those who are in charge of the determination of brain death. In Japan, there is no general consensus on whether brain death should be accepted as a person's death; however, there are people who require organ transplants. Understanding the standards of brain death determination and its neurological background may soon be mandatory for all neurologists.