"Brain Death" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
A state of prolonged irreversible cessation of all brain activity, including lower brain stem function with the complete absence of voluntary movements, responses to stimuli, brain stem reflexes, and spontaneous respirations. Reversible conditions which mimic this clinical state (e.g., sedative overdose, hypothermia, etc.) are excluded prior to making the determination of brain death. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp348-9)
| Descriptor ID |
D001926
|
| MeSH Number(s) |
C10.228.140.151 C10.597.606.358.800.200.100 C23.550.260.159
|
| Concept/Terms |
Brain Death- Brain Death
- Death, Brain
- Brain Dead
- Brain Deads
- Coma Depasse
|
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Brain Death".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Brain Death".
This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Brain Death" by people in this website by year, and whether "Brain Death" was a major or minor topic of these publications.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 1999 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2002 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2005 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2006 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2007 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2010 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2011 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2012 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2013 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2014 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2016 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2020 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 2021 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 2022 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 2023 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 2024 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 2025 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2026 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Brain Death" by people in Profiles.
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Does procurement technique or criteria for the declaration of death matter? A survey of public attitudes toward organ donation. Am J Surg. 2026 Nov; 261:117172.
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Hormone replacement before brain death increases organ donation rate after catastrophic brain injury: An EAST multicenter trial. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2026 Oct 01; 101(4):619-631.
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Utilization of DCD NRP liver grafts: A multicenter study of opportunities for improvement in organ acceptance. Liver Transpl. 2026 Aug 01; 32(8):1128-1135.
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Expanding Use of Donation After Circulatory Death Heart Transplantation to Higher Acuity Recipients. Ann Thorac Surg. 2026 02; 121(2):430-438.
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The Ethics of Heart Donation After the Circulatory Determination of Death: Gaps in Knowledge and Research Opportunities. Bioethics. 2025 09; 39(7):673-682.
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Clinical Outcomes With Normothermic Pulsatile Organ Perfusion in Heart Transplantation: A Report From the OCS Heart Perfusion Registry. Circulation. 2025 Apr; 151(13):896-909.
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Effects of ex vivo machine perfusion on preservation time and donor age in donation after brain death heart transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2025 May; 44(5):830-835.
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Impact of catastrophic brain injury guidelines on organ donation rates: Results of an EAST multicenter trial. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 01 01; 98(1):117-126.
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Defining Death: Toward a Biological and Ethical Synthesis. Am J Bioeth. 2025 09; 25(9):5-16.
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Editors' Note: Pediatric and Adult Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria Consensus Guideline: Report of the AAN Guidelines Subcommittee, AAP, CNS, and SCCM. Neurology. 2024 05 14; 102(9):e209362.