Brain Death

Brain Death is a new, ambitious, and thoroughly researched work that draws heavily upon original research data but also is interspersed throughout with practical information for the practicing neurologist, neurointensivist, neurosurgeon, anesthesiologist, trauma surgeon and organ procurement organizations. The core of the text combines the theory and practice of brain death determination, history, and the development of clinical criteria of what brain death is. With incredible clarity, the author describes in the first five chapters the complex neurological evaluations and all the pitfalls that can be experienced: cultural beliefs, bioethical problems, discussions with family members, and many of the issues associated with organ procurement. Brain Death also includes a separate chapter that comprises 25 of the most commonly encountered problems in evaluating the brain dead patient and their corresponding answers, as well as a pocket card to assist with the documentation of brain death at the bedside.

About the Author :
Eelco F. M. Wijdicks is Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Chair of the Division of Critical Care Neurology, and Consultant, Neurological Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Review :
"There is no one in the world more personally qualified to deal with this complex and sensitive subject. The job of reviewing the broad swath of data and opinion about this new second edition of Brain Death." -- Martin Samuels, MD, Chairman, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA "Eelco Wijdicks is the preeminent expert on brain death in the world. In this second edition of Brain Death, Dr. Wijdicks again provides a definitive and comprehensive text on the subject, while still being concise and practical enough to be of use to clinicans in daily practice. This book is mandatory for the libraries of actively practicing neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neurointensivists." -- Jonathan A. Friedman, MD, Regional Chair of Surgery, Bryan - College Station Campus, Associate Professor, Departments of Surgery, Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Director, The Texas Brain and Spine Institute, Bryan, TX "Dr. Wijdicks is one of the most accomplished experts in neurological critical care...[and] among his major contributions are his observations and clinical experiments regarding the examination of the patient with a severely damaged nervous system. [He] has catalogued his enormous personal experience in the second edition of his work, Brain Death. He has successfully distilled the literature into six chapters: The History of Brain Death, The Neurology of Brain Death, Beliefs about Brain Death, Critics and Brain Death, Procurement after Brain Death and Clinical Problems in Brain Death. There is no one in the world more personally qualified to deal with this complex and sensitive subject. The job of reviewing the broad swath of data and opinion about this subject is a daunting one but Dr. Wijdicks has proved he is up to the task in his new second edition of Brain Death." --Martin Samuels, MD, Chairman, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School "In this well-written, thorough yet concise second edition book by Eelco Wijdicks, we are given both a historical and scientific tour of the process of declaring someone dead by neurologic criteria...I found the final part of the book where 25 clinical problems in brain death are explored to be some of the most insightful and clinically useful material I have read on the subject matter...Dr. Wijdicks is a well-known and respected expert on the process of death by neurologic criteria. He has been at the forefront of defining its criteria and in educating the world's neuroscience and critical care physicians on its process. Any physician who meets their institutional criteria to pronounce death in this way should have this book readily available." -- Critical Care Medicine