[Experiences in the determination of brain death]

The experience gained in the ascertainment of the brain death in 45 cases permits to draw the following conclusions: 1. The irreversible functional loss of the brain is in the first place diagnosed on the basis of the clinical-neurological findings. 2. The clinical ascertainment of the brain death requires a considerable amount of experience and should be carried out jointly by neurologists and anaesthesiologists. 3. By using cerebral angiography for proving the arrest of the cerebral circulation it is possible to ascertain the brain death earlier, to cut the pending time and to carry out a possibly envisaged removal of an organ in the period before the dropping of temperature and blood pressure.