Pathology Results at Autopsy in Brain-Dead Patients with Brain Tumors.

OBJECTIVES

Brain tumors are the most challenging causes of brain deaths due to the lack of pathology results in many cases. It is not uncommon to find a brain tumor in a brain-dead patient with no pathology results or neuroradiology reports available; this would exclude the deceased from organ donation. The mortality that occurs while patients are on transplant wait lists motivated us to find a solution to prevent losing brain-dead patients as potential donors. We present our experiences in autopsy examinations of brain tumors and the results of frozen-section pathology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We performed autopsy examinations of 8 brain-dead patients who were suspected of having highly malignant brain tumors and in whom there were no pathology or radiology reports available. The autopsy process began at the conclusion of organ retrieval. First, we performed a complete brain dissection; the tumor was then removed with its adjacent brain tissue and sent for examination by an expert pathologist. Organ transplant was deferred until the pathology examination was completed.

RESULTS

Organ transplant was cancelled if the frozen sections revealed a high-grade tumor. For all other results, the transplant was performed. If a medulloblastoma was confirmed, only the heart was transplanted. The duration of the delay for pathologic examination was 30 to 45 minutes. A total of 21 organs were donated that would otherwise have been rejected.

CONCLUSIONS

It is worth performing an autopsy and frozen-section pathology examination to prevent losing potential organs from donors with brain tumors who are suspected of having a high-grade neoplasm but have no pathology or neuroradiology reports. This process is simple and has the potential to save lives.