BRAIN DEATH IN PREGNANCY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61841/y8k5ve44Keywords:
Brain death, pregnancy, delivery, gestational age, perinatalAbstract
Background: Brain death is a rare event in pregnancy. A recent case series estimated the prevalence of pregnancy among brain dead patients at 2.5%. The care of a brain-dead pregnant women focuses on optimizing maternal recovery, considering fetal health impacts, and interventions for maternal support, including medication, radiation exposure, and preterm labor risks.
The aim: This study aims to investigate brain death in pregnancy.
Methods: By comparing itself to the standards set by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis (PRISMA) 2020, this study was able to show that it met all of the requirements. So, the experts were able to make sure that the study was as up-to-date as it was possible to be. For this search approach, publications that came out between 2013 and 2023 were taken into account. Several different online reference sources, like Pubmed and ScienceDirect, were used to do this. It was decided not to take into account review pieces, works that had already been published, or works that were only half done.
Results: In the PubMed database, the results of our search brought up 17 articles, whereas the results of our search on ScienceDirect brought up 11 articles. The results of the search conducted by title screening yielded a total 12 articles for PubMed and 6 articles for ScienceDirect. We compiled a total of 12 papers, 7 of which came from PubMed and 5 of which came from ScienceDirect. We excluded 2 review articles, 3 duplicate articles, 1 article having ineligible subject, and 1 discussion article. In the end, we included five research that met the criteria.
Conclusion: In this review, 80% of neonates were born alive. Somatic support of the brain-dead pregnant woman was perfomed to maximize perinatal outcomes. And during gestation, obstetricians must closely monitored fetal development.
References
Doğan G, Kayır S. Global Scientific Outputs of Brain Death Publications and Evaluation According to the Religions of Countries. J Relig Health. 2020 Feb 1;59(1):96–112.
Staff L, Nash M. Brain death during pregnancy and prolonged corporeal support of the body: A critical discussion. Women and Birth. 2017 Oct 1;30(5):354–60.
Seifi A, Lacci JV, Godoy DA. Incidence of brain death in the United States. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2020 Aug 1;195.
Spears W, Mian A, Greer D. Brain death: a clinical overview. Vol. 10, Journal of Intensive Care. BioMed Central Ltd; 2022.
Smok D, Prager KM. The ethics of neurologically complicated pregnancies. In: Handbook of Clinical Neurology. Elsevier B.V.; 2020. p. 227–42.
Warren A, Kelly S, Karus-McElvogue A, Burnstein R. Brain death in early pregnancy: A legal and ethical challenge coming to your intensive care unit? J Intensive Care Soc. 2021 Aug 1;22(3):214–9.
Gal R, Zimova I, Antoni H, Minarcikova P, Ventruba P, Hruban L, et al. Delivery of a healthy baby from a braindead woman after 117 days of somatic support: A case report. American Journal of Case Reports. 2021;22(1).
Gopčevic´, AG, Rode B, Vučicvučic´, M, Horvat A, Gavranovic´,Gavranovic´, Zˇ, Košec V, et al. Ethical and medical management of a pregnant woman with brain stem death resulting in delivery of a healthy child and organ donation.
KANG J, SIVA KUMAR S. SABBULA B, M. ARJUN S, AKELLA J, IQBAL J, ZAKI KA. THE DOUBLE
BIND: AN ETHICAL CONUNDRUM OF A BRAIN-DEAD PREGNANT PATIENT IN THE ICU. Chest. 2023 Oct;164(4):A5170–1.
Kinoshita Y, Kamohara H, Kotera A, Sagishima K, Tashiro T, Niimori D. Healthy baby delivered vaginally from a brain‐dead mother. Acute Medicine & Surgery. 2015 Jul;2(3):211–3.
Reinhold AK, Kredel M, Markus CK, Kranke P. Vaginal delivery in the 30+4 weeks of pregnancy and organ donation after brain death in early pregnancy. BMJ Case Rep. 2019 Sep 1;12(9).
Heywood R. Live or let die?: Fine margins between life and death in a brain-dead pregnancy. Med Law Rev. 2017 Nov 1;25(4):628–53.
Greer DM, Shemie SD, Lewis A, Torrance S, Varelas P, Goldenberg FD, et al. Determination of Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria: The World Brain Death Project. Vol. 324, JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association. American Medical Association; 2020. p. 1078–97.
Truog RD, Krishnamurthy K, Tasker RC. Brain Death - Moving beyond Consistency in the Diagnostic Criteria. Vol. 324, JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association. American Medical Association; 2020. p. 1045–7.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Licensing
Ninety Nine Publication publishes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This licensing allows for any use of the work, provided the original author(s) and source are credited, thereby facilitating the free exchange and use of research for the advancement of knowledge.
Detailed Licensing Terms
Attribution (BY): Users must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Users may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses them or their use.
No Additional Restrictions: Users may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.