A Decade Experience in Cadaver Maintenance Unit ‘A Stanlean Soujourn’

Abstract

Brain death diagnosis, certification and maintenance

of potential organ donors had always courted confusion,

ambiguity and controversy. But with more than 5 million

people with end organ failure awaiting organ donation in

India, this area of medicine and critical care which

remained grey for a long period, became largely debated

and discussed in recent times. While many facts had been

made clear, some confusions and controversies still exists.

In this article we look back on our journey of almost a

decade with more than 60 cases of brain dead donors. We

share our difficulties be it clinical, logistical or legal and

how we managed critical issues in various aspects of brain

death certification and donor management and how in the

process devised our institutional protocol.