Radionuclide brain perfusion studies in suspected brain death

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Nuclear Medicine

Background:

• Brain death diagnosis requires confirmation of absent cerebral blood flow.
• Radionuclide brain perfusion study (RPS) is a potential diagnostic method.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy of RPS in confirming suspected brain death.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of hospital records and RPS results for 34 patients with suspected brain death.
• Analysis of cerebral blood flow patterns observed in RPS.

Main Results:

• RPS demonstrated absent or drastically reduced cerebral blood flow in all but one of the 34 patients.
• None of the patients with positive RPS survived more than five days; 25 survived less than 24 hours.
• Previous studies of 248 patients showed only one survival after a positive RPS.

Conclusions:

• Radionuclide brain perfusion study (RPS) is a highly accurate and reliable method for confirming brain death.
• Absent cerebral blood flow on RPS strongly correlates with non-survival, supporting its use in clinical practice.