U.S. Government Information on Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation |
About Us Terms and Topics Organ Donor FAQs Site Map |
|
|
Home
>
About Donation & Transplantation
|
|
STATISTICS & FACTS
OPTN (Organ Procurement Transplant Network) Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients Bone Marrow and Cord Blood Donation and Transplantation UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) OPTN Contractor American Society of Transplantation Site for transplant professionals Center for International Blood & Bone Marrow Transplant Research |
Organ Donation and Brain DeathIndividuals who are brain dead can be organ donors and their organs can be used for transplantation. Brain death occurs when the brain is totally and irreversibly non-functional. Brain death is caused by not enough blood supply of oxygen which causes the brain cells to die. When medical tests show a complete loss of brain function, the brain has died and the person is dead. Brain death and a coma are not the same thing. It is possible for a person to recover from a coma. It is not possible to recover from brain death. Brain death is most often caused by head trauma, a stroke, a ruptured aneurysm that causes bleeding in the brain, a gunshot wound, or drowning. Of all the deaths in the United States each year, only 1%–2% are brain deaths. |
|
|||
