Journal of Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine 2019 , Vol 10, Issue 1
Demographic Characteristics of Brain Death Cases in Our Clinic and Causes of Family Refusal for Organ Donation
Ömer Faruk BORAN 1 ,Hafize ÖKSÜZ 1 ,Dilek SOYLU 2 ,Aykut URFALIOĞLU 1 ,Bora BİLAL 1 ,Yavuz ORAK 1 ,Selma URFALIOĞLU 3
1Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology Kahramanmaraş, Turkey
2Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, School of Medicine, Department of Nursing Vocational School Kahramanmaraş, Turkey
3Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, School of Medicine, Department of Opthalmology Kahramanmaraş, Turkey
DOI : 10.33381/dcbybd.2019.1923 Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of patient relatives about organ donation for patients with brain death diagnosis and to identify the cause of negative attitudes related to donation.

Methods: A retrospective examination was made of the archived records of patients with brain death (BD) diagnosis from September 2007 to August 2018 in Anesthesia Reanimation Intensive Care Unit. Demographic factors of the cases with BD such as age, gender, and admission diagnosis were recorded. The patient families were then contacted by telephone and organ donation acceptance or rejection was assessed in terms of reasons.

Results: A total of 86 cases with brain death diagnosis were identified. When cases were assessed in terms of admission diagnoses, post-CPR hypoxic brain was the most common diagnosis (30.2%). The organ donation rate was identified as 12.8% (n=11). The mean age of patients was 31.09±20.98 years in those who donated organs, and 35.62±21.45 years in those whose families rejected donation (p=0.614). When the factors causing brain death of patients with organ donation were assessed, 54.4% died due to traumatic reasons. The two most important factors identified in the study for families rejecting organ donation were religious beliefs (41.3%) and beliefs about not disrupting the integrity of the body after death (37.3%). The most important factor for acceptance was the wish to help other people (91%).

Conclusion: In our study, religious beliefs were found as the main reason for rejection of organ donation. To be able to increase cadaver-sourced donation rates, there is a need for society to be informed by religious leaders, family interviews should be held with an experienced and trained organ donation co-ordinator and families should definitely be fully informed about the sensitivity shown to bodily integrity during the organ donation procedure and surgical procedures. Keywords : brain death, transplantation, tissue and organ procurement, rejection