[Contribution of transcranial Doppler sonography to the diagnosis of brain death in children].
Brain death can be characterized by cessation of cerebral blood flow. We have measured blood flow velocity in cerebral arteries of 17 comatous children with a transcranial pulsed Doppler equipment. In 11 children who progressed to brain death, we have recorded a progressive decrease of Doppler signal with the following steps: decrease of diastolic velocity, no diastolic velocity, reverse diastolic flow, decrease of systolic signal, no signal at all. In the 6 surviving children (all except one with severe deficits), after an initial reduction but never to a retrograde flow, arterial cerebral blood flow velocity increased to high diastolic values before normalization. Transcranial Doppler technique is non invasive, reliable, can be used at the bedside and repeated; it allows evaluating the cerebral blood flow in comatous children and represents a useful adjunct to brain death diagnosis.
Messer
J
J
Services de Pédiatrie 2, CHU de Hautepierre, Strasbourg.
Burtscher
A
A
Haddad
J
J
Casanova
R
R
Juif
J G
JG
D001926:Brain Death / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004453:Echoencephalography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn
Apport de l'examen Doppler transcrânien au diagnostic de mort cérébrale chez l'enfant.