title: A brain dead woman, giving birth in the 23rd week of pregnancy, used as an organ donor: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal brain death during pregnancy is an exceptional case when somatic support might be continued despite diagnosed death. There are only a few cases of maternal brain death during pregnancy reported in the literature and detailed data regarding the frequency of such cases are lacking.
  
  
  METHODS
  The case of a 40-year-old woman, diagnosed brain dead due to a subarachnoid and intracranial hemorrhage in the 21st week of pregnancy is presented. The patient was admitted to the neurosurgery department and then to the intensive care unit, where brain death was diagnosed. The medical team decided to perform a caesarean section, and a living female infant was delivered. After delivery, maternal kidneys were recovered and successfully transplanted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This challenging case indicates that prompt diagnosis of maternal brain death is required to facilitate decision-making regarding somatic support prolongation to save the life of the fetus, as well as to allow procurement of the maternal organs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and General Surgery, Collegium Medicum Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland. a.wod@wp.pl
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Woderska
authors.forename: Milosz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jasinski
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arszynska-Lopatka
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slupski
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Janiszewska
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wlodarczyk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001926:Brain Death; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000601:surgery; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement