Experience with Determination of Brain Death and Organ Donation

In a retrospective analysis, we report on our experience with determination of brain death on the basis of the patients at the neurosur- gical intensive care unit of the University Hospital in Frankfurt in the period from 1980 to 1987. The following three criteria are of particular practical significance: the epidemiology of the mortalities, the practical significance of the diagnosis of brain death with the EEG, and the choice of organ donors.