99mTc-HMPAO and mobile gamma-camera in the diagnosis of brain death.

The determination of brain death relies on unequivocal clinical data and on supportive studies. The replacement of the electroencephalogram (EEG) as the gold standard is unanimously felt as appropriate. Scintigraphic imaging with technetium-99m hexamethylpropylenamineoxime (99mTc-HMPAO) seems to offer an adequate substitute given its metabolic features, ideally to be used with a mobile gamma-camera which simplifies the approach to this type of patient. We correlated EEG with the scintigraphic data, which were found to be concordant and therefore substitutive in the establishment of brain death.