What does brain death mean?
Brain death is a diagnosis when a patient on an artificial respiration machine no longer has brain functions, that is, the person cannot regain consciousness and cannot breathe independently without the machine.
In case of brain death, the patient is considered dead, death is recorded. Unfortunately, in such clinical cases, patients have no chance of recovery - their body can no longer function independently without an artificial breathing machine or other auxiliary medical equipment.
This diagnosis is difficult for family members, friends, relatives of the patient to understand, because they see that their loved one is "breathing", they hear the heartbeat, the chest rises during exhalation or inhalation and then falls back again, although all this is done only through a breathing machine. Actually, the person is already dead due to brain death.
The brain stem is the part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord. The brain stem is responsible for regulating the body's automatic functions (breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing). This part of the brain also controls movement, consciousness, and thinking.
Brain death occurs when the brain is no longer supplied with blood or oxygen.
The underlying cause may be the following pathologies:
- Cardiac arrest;
- Heart attack;
- Stroke;
- Thrombus;
- Severe head injury;
- Brain hemorrhage;
- Infections, for example, encephalitis;
- Brain tumor.
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