Brainstem death.

A patient with the clinical picture of brain death resulting from brainstem hemorrhage and subsequent infarction is presented. The EEG showed activity similar to what has been described in the cerveau isolé animal preparations. Cortical evoked potentials were unobtainable from auditory or somatosensory stimulation, but of unusually high amplitude to flash stimuli. The point is made that a diagnosis of brain death cannot be made on clinical grounds alone when a patient is on life support systems, and the differences between cerebral death, brainstem death and brain death are discussed.