Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38217344›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of neurology2024

Computed tomography angiography in the diagnosis of brain death: Implementation and results in Germany.

Olaf Hoffmann, Farid Salih, Florian Masuhr

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of neurology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Olaf HoffmannDepartment of Neurology, Alexianer St. Josefs Hospital, Potsdam, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6399-1911
Farid SalihDepartment of Neurology and Experimental Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1114-3181
Florian MasuhrKlinik für Neurologie, Bundeswehrkrankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Bundeswehrkrankenhaus · DECharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin · DESt. Josefs Hospital · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundComputed tomography angiography (CTA) has been investigated as a confirmatory study (CS) for the diagnosis of brain death (BD). International consensus regarding its use, study parameters, and evaluation criteria is lacking. In the German BD guideline, a CTA protocol was first introduced in 2015.

methodsThe authors obtained a comprehensive dataset of all BD examinations in adults from the German organ procurement organization to investigate implementation, results, and impact of CTA on BD determination during the first 4 years.

resultsIn 5152 patients with clinically absent brain function, 1272 CTA were reported by 676 hospitals. Use of CTA increased from 17.2% of patients in the first year to 29.7% in the final year. CTA replaced other CS such as electroencephalography without increasing overall CS frequency. Technical failure was rare (0.9%); 89.3% of studies were positive. Negative results (9.8%) were more frequent with secondary brain injury, longer duration of the clinical BD syndrome, or unreliable clinical assessment. Median time to diagnosis was longer with CTA (2.6 h) versus other CS (1.6 h). CTA had no differential impact on the rate of confirmed BD and did not improve access of small hospitals to CS for BD determination.

conclusionsCTA expands the range of available CS for the diagnosis of BD in adults. Real-world evidence from a large cohort confirms usability of the German CTA protocol within the guideline-specified context.

Indexed as

Brain DeathComputed Tomography AngiographyAdultCerebral AngiographyElectroencephalographyGermanyHumansTomography, X-Ray Computedancillary testsbrain deathCT angiographyelectroencephalographyguidelines

Identifiers

PMID38217344
PMCPMC11235910
OpenAlexW4390840761

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.