Brain death in neonates: a case report

<p>Brain death (BD) is the permanent and complete loss of cerebral and brainstem function. It is relatively uncommon in newborns with its percentage among deaths being 1-6.3%. BD leads to debate for medical, ethical and philosophical issues. It is a challenging condition in neonatal intensive care <span>units (NICUs) since difficulties for BD diagnosis in neonates and ever more so </span>in preterm neonates do arise. Revised guidelines for BD diagnosis definition include history with known etiology, clinical examination, apnea testing and neurological evaluation often assisted by ancillary tests.</p> <p>We present the case of a near term female baby that was born with brain death due to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. We conclude that BD in newborns is a challenge to NICUs and there is a need for establishing and implementing new guidelines and checklists on national basis.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Proceedings of the 10^th International Workshop on Neonatology · Cagliari (Italy) · October 22^nd-25^th, 2014 · <em>The last ten years, the next ten years in Neonatology</em></strong></p> <p><span><strong>Guest Editors: Vassilios Fanos, Michele Mussap, Gavino Faa, Apostolos Papageorgiou</strong></span>