ABSTRACT

This study aims to determine the extent to which the timing of apnea test has influence on the organ donation of those patients diagnosed with the brain death (BD) at University of Health Sciences, Şanlıurfa Mehmet Akif İnan Training and Research Hospital between the years of 2006-2017.

One hundred and five patients diagnosed with BD between the years of 2006-2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Since the sample is limited to the national population, 13 Syrian cases are excluded from the study. The demographic characteristics of the cases, their clinical diagnoses, elapsed time between intensive care hospitalization and apnea test, duration between apnea test and cardio-circulatory arrest, elapsed time between apnea test and BD council decision time, Glasgow coma scores at first visit, APACHE II scores were recorded.

Of the ninety two cases evaluated in the study, 33 (35.9%) were female and 59 (64.1%) were male. While the most frequent diagnosis during the admission to the intensive care unit was trauma with 52.2% (n=48), the rest was found as stroke with 35.9% (n=33), anoxic brain injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation with 6.5% (n=6), and asphyxia with 5.4% (n=5) respectively. Among the patients who have been diagnosed with BD, 12% of the family accepted organ donation. In the cases who accept organ donation; the median time from the first hospitalization in the intensive care unit to the time that the apnea test was positive is 57 hours whereas the median time is 86.8 hours when the organ donation is rejected (p>0.05).

Whereas the number of patients diagnosed with BD in our hospital increases over the years, the organ donation rate is insufficient compared to the western part of the country.

Keywords: Brain death, apnea test timing, organ donation