Post-mortem concentration of pentobarbital in the blood and brain of two deceased neurosurgical patients was determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Patients treated with barbiturate for elevated intracranial pressure after head injury may incur brain death. In the present two cases of brain death a large amount of barbiturate remained in the brain, even when the blood concentration was not detectable, possibly because the blood flow was stagnant in the brain. It is suggested that a patient under barbiturate coma should be given serious consideration as to the determination of brain death, even if barbiturate is negative in the blood.
CITATION STYLE
Saito, T., Takeichi, S., Nakajima, Y., Yukawa, N., & Osawa, M. (1995). Influence of antemortem medication on the determination of brain death. Japanese Journal of Legal Medicine, 49(6), 484–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79523-7_61
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