Empfehlungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Klinische Neurophysiologie und Funktionelle Bildgebung zur Diagnostik des irreversiblen Hirnfunktionsausfalls

Abstract

Along with the fourth update of the German Medical Association guideline for the determination of irreversible loss of brain function (brain death), effective from July 2015, the recommendations of the German Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and Functional Imaging (DGKN) for the ancillary electrophysiological (electroencephalography, early auditory evoked potentials, somatosensory evoked potentials) and neurovascular (Doppler sonography, duplex sonography) tests were updated. Beside editorial adaptations to the German Medical Association guideline, recommendations on the contents of the report on diagnostic findings of the ancillary tests as well as current recommendations for Doppler and duplex sonography were newly included. The recommendations presented here describe the indications, limitations, requirements and implementation of these ancillary tests in the diagnosis of irreversible loss of brain function in children and adults.