Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography and Brain Death

In France the diagnosis of brain death relies on electroencephalography (EEG) or cerebral angiography. Concerning the latter a time of 6 hours is mandatory between the clinical diagnosis and the realization of the cerebral computed tomography (CT) angiography. Transcranial doppler (TCD) is not recommended in the french guidelines for the diagnosis of brain death. In other countries, some flow patterns allow to confirm the diagnosis of brain death. The hypothesis of our study is that TCD could shorten the time between the clinical diagnosis of brain death and the realization of the CT angiography.